A Field Guide to the Mammals of Egypt. Richard Hoath

species: Other small shrews. For Flower’s Shrew and Dwarf Shrew, see those species. Much smaller than House Shrew. Much larger than Savi’s Pygmy Shrew with relatively smaller ears.

HOUSE SHREW Suncus murinus (Linnaeus, 1766)

       Pl. 2

      Subspecies occurring in Egypt: tentatively 5. m. sacer.

      Identification: Length 155–240mm; Tail 50–85mm. A large, robust shrew with a proportionately rather short tail. Coat short. Upper parts brown, hairs gray at base, underparts grayish white with indistinct demarcation. Feet white. Head large with relalively small, rounded ears that still project beyond fur. Tail about one half of head and body length. Very thick at base narrowing toward tip. Brown with silvery bristles along entire length.

      House Shrew (Suncus murinus)

      Range and status: Largely Asiatic, from New Guinea west through Southeast Asia to India and Sri Lanka and north to Taiwan and Japan. Outside this range also in isolated populations at seaports throughout Arabia to Egypt and Sudan. In Egypt there is one (two according to Wassif and Hoogstral [1953]) record of the species at Suez. This was almost certainly ship-borne and there is no evidence that the House Shrew has established a viable population at the port.

      Habitat: The House Shrew appears to be a commensal, at least in the Arabian region, found in houses, warehouses, and other buildings. Also recorded from garbage heaps, gardens, and walls.

      Habits: Unknown in Egypt. Probably as other shrews but much more tied to humans. Elsewhere, reported to be largely nocturnal and noisy. Recorded from Barn Owl pellets.

      Similar species: In Egypt, only the Greater Musk Shrew is as large. House Shrew can be distinguished by proportionately shorter tail with much thicker stock and silvery bristles along entire length. Range and habitat different.

SAVI’S PYGMY SHREW (PYGMY WHITE-TOOTHED SHREW, COMMON DWARF SHREW, SAVI’S DWARF SHREW, ETRUSCAN SHREW) Suncus etruscus (Savi, 1822)

       Pl. 2

      Savi’s Pygmy Shrew (Suncus etruscus)

      Single Egyptian specimen probably S. e. etruscus.

      Identification: Length 62–81mm; Tail 21–32mm; Weight 1.5–2.0g. A tiny shrew, one of the smallest mammals in the world, with relatively large ears. Upper parts gray-brown with reddish tinge, long hairs interspersed in short dense coat. Underparts grayish, hairs gray, tipped white, with indistinct demarcation. Feet whitish. Ears large and stand well clear of fur. Tail narrow, over half head and body length, brown above, paler below, and scattered with bristles along entire length.

      Range and status: Much of southern Europe, including the Canary Isles, from Iberia east to Turkey and on to Iraq, Iran, India to China and parts of Southeast Asia to Borneo. Also North Africa south to Ethiopia and Madagascar. In Egypt, known only from one specimen in the Paris Museum taken in the Delta. It is not known whether this shrew is just very rare, possibly extinct, or whether it is so small it is overlooked. Apparently it is too small to be caught in conventional mousetraps.

      Habitat: Unknown in Egypt. Elsewhere, from farmland, in gardens, olive groves, along old walls, and buildings.

      Habits: Little known but presumably much as other shrews. Nests in cavities in walls or rocks, or beneath tree roots.

      Similar species: See other small shrews. Minute size and relatively large ears should be diagnostic.

The Bats—Order Chiroptera

      The bats are unique amongst the mammals in their ability to fly. While other mammals, such as the flying squirrels, the scaly-tails, and the peculiar flying lemurs—none of which occur in Egypt—can glide on skin membranes between their outstretched limbs, it is only the bats that are capable of true, flapping flight. In order to do this, the bats have evolved a body plan radically different from any other group of mammals. The forelimbs have essentially become the wings with the fingers greatly elongated to form a framework over which the flight membrane (a slender membrane of skin and narrow layers of muscle fibers) is stretched. The membrane extends back to the much-reduced hind limbs and, in many species, to the tail as well. The extent and shape of the flight membrane is important in identification.

      In devoting the forelimbs to flight, the bats have largely sacrificed their ability to move on the ground, although, amongst the Egyptian species, the free-tailed bats can move relatively rapidly across walls, etc., scuttling along using their folded wings as legs. Most bats roost upside down, suspended by their hind feet or clinging by their hind feet from a cave, tomb, or building wall. At rest, the wings may be wrapped around the bat, as in the horseshoe bats, or folded up on either side as in the rat-tailed bats.

      Most bats are nocturnal, though the actual time of flight varies, some species emerging at dusk, others feeding later at night.

      The Old World Fruit Bats—Suborder Megachiroptera Family Pteropodidae

      Approx. 173 species with 1 in Egypt

      The fruit bats are the largest bats and differ from other bats, not only in size but also in their prominent eyes, relatively small ears with no tragus, two wing claws, and the absence, or great reduction, of the tail and interfemoral (tail) membrane. There is only one Egyptian species, the Egyptian Fruit Bat Rousettus egyptiacus.

EGYPTIAN FRUIT BAT Rousettus egyptiacus (E. Geoffroy St-Hilaire, 1810) PL 3

      Egyptian Fruit Bat (Rousettus egyptiacus)

      Subspecies occurring in Egypt: R. e. egyptiacus.

      Arabic: Khuffash al-fak-ha misri

      Identification: Length 126–167mm; Tail 8–19mm; Forearm 84–99mm; Weight 130g. Male probably slightly larger than female. Large, short-tailed bat with fox-like face and prominent eyes. With a wingspan of up to 60cm, this is by far the largest Egyptian bat, identifiable by size alone, but in the hand, the second finger is clawed, tragus absent, and ear margin complete. Overall pale grayish to brown in color, slightly darker above. Male has elongated hair on the throat related to scent glands. Inter-femoral membrane much reduced and tail very short (appears tailless in flight).

      Range and status: Eastern Mediterranean, including southern Turkey and Cyprus, east to Iran and Pakistan. Arabia and much of Africa. In Egypt, found throughout the Nile Valley south to Aswan. Also in cities including Cairo (inc. Mohandiseen, Giza, Zamalck, and Garden City) where common. Other records from north coast near Mersa Matruh, Port Said, and Suez.

      Habitat: Cultivated areas to desert margins, towns, and cities. Preferred roosts are mosques, deserted buildings, tombs, monuments (inc. Giza pyramids), etc., that are generally humid with some indirect light.

      Habits: Nocturnal with peaks at dusk and dawn. Often in large colonies of hundreds, even thousands. Although they have large eyes, these fruit bats can also echolocate and, thus,