Elephant shrews also called jumping shrews, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family 'Macroscelididae', in the order 'Macroscelidea'. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a perceived resemblance between their long noses and the trunk of an elephant, and their superficial similarity with shrews (family 'Soricidae') in the order 'Eulipotyphla'. However, phylogenetic analysis revealed that elephant shrews are not classified with true shrews, but are in fact more closely related to elephants than shrews.

They are widely distributed across the southern part of Africa, and although common nowhere, can be found in almost any type of habitat, from the Namib Desert to boulder-strewn outcrops in South Africa to thick forest.

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