Procaviidae
Sign in to saveHyraxes (), also called dassies, are small, stout, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the family Procaviidae within the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Modern hyraxes are typically between in length and weigh between . They are superficially similar to marmots or over-large pikas but are much more closely related to elephants and sirenians. Hyraxes have a life span of 9 to 14 years. Both types of "rock" hyrax (P. capensis and H. brucei) live on rock outcrops, including cliffs in Ethiopia and isolated granite outcrops called koppies in so
Taxonomy · GBIF
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassMammalia
- OrderHyracoidea
- FamilyProcaviidae
via GBIF · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Hyracoidea
- Image
- Ein klippschliefer.jpg
Show 4 more facts
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Similarities with Proboscidea and Sirenia
- Evolution
- List of genera
- Extant species
- Human interactions
- Biblical references
- "Spain"
- In popular culture
- Footnotes
- See also
- References
- External links
Hyraxes (), also called dassies, are small, stout, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the family Procaviidae within the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Modern hyraxes are typically between in length and weigh between . They are superficially similar to marmots or over-large pikas but are much more closely related to elephants and sirenians. Hyraxes have a life span of 9 to 14 years. Both types of "rock" hyrax (P. capensis and H. brucei) live on rock outcrops, including cliffs in Ethiopia and isolated granite outcrops called koppies in southern Africa.
Almost all hyraxes are limited to Africa; the exception is the rock hyrax (P. capensis) which is also found in adjacent parts of the Middle East.