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They appear to be put together from spare parts of other animals. Their enclosure at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. calls them elephant-shrews, suggesting a cross between the largest land mammal on earth and the smallest. Just like elephants, they have delicate, quivering trunklike snouts, for rooting through leaf litter. Just like shrews, they eat insects, flicking elongated tongues from underneath the trunk to snap up their sought-after food. Their bodies are furry and rodentlike, with glossy black eyes and long, leathery tails. Another special characteristic is their spindly antelope-like legs. Elephant-shrews, unlike many other small mammals, don't scuttle down burrows to escape hungry predators. Instead, they run away with great speed. They are said to be fast enough to be overly confident about their fast get-a-ways. When they spot an approaching predator, they may simply sit still and slap that elongated tail against the leaf litter. It is considered more accurate to think of elephant-shrews as d
