Rock Hyrax
Procavia capensis
Despite their rodent-like appearance, their closest living relatives are actually elephants and manatees, sharing similar foot structures and tusk-like teeth.
- Scientific name
- Procavia capensis
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Mammalia › Hyracoidea › Procaviidae › Procavia
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- desert
- Habitat
- Rocky outcrops, cliffs, kopjes, and boulder fields in arid, semi-arid, and savanna regions.
- Diet
- Herbivorous, feeding on a wide variety of grasses, herbage, leaves, fruit, and bark.
- Range
- Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East
- Size
- 30 to 55 cm in length, weighing 2 to 5 kg
- Lifespan
- 8 to 12 years in the wild
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat fragmentation, hunting, and predation by caracals, leopards, and eagles.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless but defensive. Rock hyraxes are generally peaceful but will bite with sharp, tusk-like incisors if cornered or handled. Maintain a safe distance of 5 meters. If bitten, wash the wound with soap and water immediately and seek medical evaluation to prevent infection.
The rock hyrax ( Procavia capensis ), also called rock badger and Cape hyrax , is commonly referred to in South African English as the dassie . It is one of the four living species of the order Hyracoidea, and the only living species in the genus Procavia . Like all hyraxes, it is a medium-sized (~4 kg) terrestrial mammal, with short ears and tail.
Photo: Rudolph Steenkamp, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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