The 21 Basic Mammal Groups
Golden Moles and Tenrecs (Order Afrosoricida)
What used to be the mammalian order known as Insectivora ("insect-eaters") has undergone a big change recently, splitting into two new orders, Eulipotyphia (Greek for "truly fat and blind") and Afrosoricida ("looking like African shrews"). In the latter category are two very obscure creatures: the golden moles of southern Africa and the tenrecs of Africa and Madagascar. Just to show how complicated the business of taxonomy can be, various species of tenrecs, via the process of convergent evolution, closely resemble shrews, mice, possums, and hedgehogs, while golden moles are, appropriately enough, reminiscent of true moles.
The 21 Basic Mammal Group caches were placed for HNY21.