Did you know that there is a small creature that looks like a rabbit but is related to an elephant, it has rodent-like teeth but digests fiber, it has hooves on its toes, but it can flexibly climb rocks. This amazing animal is the hyrax.
The hyrax is a small herbivorous mammal found in Africa and the Middle East and belongs to the order Hyrax. They are stocky in size, with a variety of coat colors, a short tail, and round ears. In general, they are between 30 and 70 centimeters long and weigh between 2 and 5 kilograms. They are somewhat similar to rabbits or marmots, but they are actually closer to animals such as elephants and manatees.
Hyrax have a lot of primitive mammalian traits, such as their poor thermoregulation, so they often gather together to keep warm, or bask in the sun. Their tooth structure is also very special, with the two front teeth in the upper jaw being large, like fangs, which can grow continuously, much like the front teeth of rodents. The four front teeth of the lower jaw are thin, comb-like and have deep grooves. Their molars are similar to those of rhinoceros, and they can grind plants.
Instead of burrowing into nests like most rodents or rodent-like animals, hyrax will find shelter in naturally formed burrows or crevices in rocks. They live mainly in the rocky terrain of Africa and the Middle East, and some also inhabit trees. They have a lot of sweat glands on the soles of their feet that secrete a viscous fluid that helps them balance on steep rocks. They have hooves on their toes, three on their hind feet, four on their front feet, and one in the middle with claws. Their kidneys are also efficient, conserving water and adapting to arid environments.
Females of hyrax rabbits typically give birth to one to three cubs per year, and the gestation period is about seven to eight months, depending on the species. The pups grow hairy soon after birth, weaning at one to five months and reaching sexual maturity at sixteen to seventeen months. The hyrax generally lives in a small family of one male and multiple females, and the males will actively protect their territory from other males. If there is enough living space, males will also have several of these small families at the same time. Territoryless males live on their own, or look for opportunities on the fringes to mate with some young females.
The hyrax has a highly active form of myoglobin in their blood, which may reflect their aquatic ancestry. The relationship between the hyrax and elephants, manatees and other animals is an interesting evolutionary puzzle. Their common ancestor may have been a giant "hyrax-like" animal that later diverged in different directions. Some became smaller and evolved into modern hyraxes, while others adapted to aquatic life and eventually evolved into elephants and manatees. From the DNA evidence, this hypothesis is plausible because modern hyraxas share many characteristics with elephants, manatees, and other animals, such as nails on the toes, keen hearing, sensory pads on the soles of the feet, small tusks, advanced brain functions, and the shape of some bones.
The hyrax is a very old mammal, and their fossils date back to 37 million years ago in the Middle East. For a long time, hyraxes, elephants, manatees and other animals were the most dominant terrestrial herbivores on the African continent, just like the odd hoofed animals on the North American continent. In the Miocene, due to the emergence of animals such as cattle and sheep, the hyrax was gradually pushed out to the marginal ecological niche. However, hyraxes still maintain a great diversity and wide distribution, and until the end of the Pleistocene (about 2 million years ago), they can still be found in much of Africa, Europe and Asia.