Family of the Week: The Tusked Sinecrus

This is a small family of animals that are derived from elephant shrews. They somewhat resemble the modern manatees, and are found only in what is today the Hawaiian Islands. They are rather more slenderly built than manatees, and have a long tail and small hind flippers. The front flippers are large and strong and tipped with short, flat fingernails. They are very flexible and used for grasping the aquatic plants and grasses that these animals feed on. The body is long and barrel-shaped, the head is short and blunt, the canine teeth have become tusks that grow outward rather than up or downward. There is no fur, but the flesh can be very brilliantly colored, especially in the males. The tail is like those of whales, only somewhat longer. They propel themselves through the water with an undulating motion of their tail. They are considerably faster and more high-energy swimmers than manatees. Like manatees though, they inhabit lakes and ponds. The forelimbs are powerful enough that these animals can actually move from one body of water to another. They pull themselves on land in the same manner as the mud-skippers (Gobiidae, Oxudercinae) of the Cenozoic. They have no layers of blubber, as in whales, so they will not crush themselves under their own weight. They can actually stay on land for several hours before needing to retreat back into water.

Most species have about 2 tusks that protrude out the mouth. However, Cornurostris has only one tusk. These tusks are most often used for sparring among males, and the males indeed have the largest tusks. The tusks play no part in feeding. The only species that has the smallest tusks are in Egeodonta. In this species, the tusks never extend out of the mouth. All these species are basically large and slender, the largest among them is about 11 feet long. These are in the genus Bidens. However, they are still very capable of walking along the land when necessary. But they are not blubbery like whales or dolphins. This allows these animals to easily move on land for considerable distances.

The only time these sinecrus come to land is to relocate or mate. The females usually birth their calves in the water, away from any land-based predators. They only give birth to a single offspring, and the baby is born tail first, as in whales. The mother then nurses the baby. She floats to the water’s surface, still safe away from land-based predators, and exposes her belly, where the nipples are, and the baby eats that way. The mother’s nipples are fixed so that she herself pumps the milk out so the baby doesn’t have to suction the milk out it’s self. But this way the baby can eat and breathe at the same time and so can the mother. Often, she will even use her foreflippers to hold the baby to where the nipple is. The baby is well protected, though the males play no part in the family role, the mother is perfectly capable of defending her baby by using her sharp tusks as a defense against predators.

The islands where these animals live is not exactly teaming with predators. Among the worst predators are the smaller carnivorous sinecrus of the family Ephodozoidae. These are the worst because they can, and usually do, attack the tusked sinecrus and their young right in the water. Predatory bats like Cercomoloch may take the young from the air, as the mother is nursing them. Sometimes, adults may also fall prey to these pteropods as they are crossing the forest floor to move from one pond to another. Cercomoloch can easily kill even an 11-foot long adult with their powerful talons. Another predatory candidate would be the predatory rats that inhabit these islands. They may take down the tusked sinecrus as well as they try to cross the forest floor. But these animals are not completely without defenses. They can use their tusks easily to ward off any predatory attacks. The tusks are sharp and powerful and can quite simply act like the blade of a swiss army knife, and slice open a predator. Or a well-placed stab can immobilize and even kill a predator.