Main Characteristics

Bornean Smooth-Tailed Tree Shrews have a body length between 10 and 15 cms (4 - 6 inches), a tail length between 9 and 14 cms (3.5 - 5.5 inches) and they weight between 35 and 60 g (1.25 - 2.1 oz).

They are coloured a mixture of black and buff on their upperside and their underside and legs are reddish in colour. They have well developed senses of hearing, smell and vision.

Habitat

Bornean Smooth-Tailed Tree Shrews are found in the mountain forests of Borneo at altitudes of 900 - 1,500 m (3,000 - 5,000 ft). They are solitary and they sleep in a leaf lined tree nest at night.

Diet

Bornean Smooth-Tailed Tree Shrews are omnivores and they feed on a variety of insects, small vertebrates, fruit and seeds.

Breeding

After a gestation period of approximately 50 days, a litter of 3 - 4 young are born. At birth the young are blind and hairless, but they are able to leave the nest when they are a month old.

Tree Shrews reach sexual maturity at around 4 months old and they generally breed throughout the year with no defined breeding season.

Subspecies

Subspecies of the Bornean Smooth-Tailed Tree Shrew include:

Dendrogale melanura melanura
Dendrogale melanura baluensis

Interesting Facts

Tree Shrews have the highest brain to body mass ratio of any animal, even higher than humans.

Bornean Smooth-Tailed Tree Shrews are threatened by habitat loss.

They spend more time in the trees than other species of tree shrew.

Similar Animals

Pen-Tailed Tree Shrew
Painted Tree Shrew
Palawan Tree Shrew
Striped Tree Shrew
Slender Tree Shrew
Pygmy Tree Shrew
Golden-Bellied Tree Shrew
Northern Smooth-Tailed Tree Shrew