Animals: Solenodons

Greatest tropical animal rarity in the Western Hemisphere is the solenodon, a little insectivorous beast resembling the opossum, smaller but with a similar ratty tail and a limber prehensile snout. Zoologists know it as the family Solenodontidae, which has but a single genus: solenodon. Classified as an extremely primitive form of animal, its skeletal structure is prehistoric. It dwells in rocky, mountain burrows on the islands of Haiti and Cuba only. A victory for any U. S. zoologist is the capture, transportation and sustenance of a solenodon over any length of time....

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