Rodents

Rodents are a large group of world wide spread mammals. Their representatives in Lebanon includes squirrels, porcupines (covered in this article) as well as dormice, mice, rats, voles, mole rats, hamsters, jirds and jerboas.

Below are some rodents found in Lebanon:



Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis)

Despite looking like rodents, feeding, and behaving like rodents, hyraxes are not rodents. If one wants to find him cousins among mammals, he has to mention elephants and sea cows! Hyraxes are native of the African continent, and only one species can be found outside of sub-Saharan Africa, Procavia carpensis, Rock hyraxes, settled from the Middle East to Lebanon. They inhabit rocky terrain, and their feet have rubbery pads with numerous sweat glands, which help them to maintain their grip while they quickly move up steep, rocky surfaces. Hyraxes live in small family groups, with a single male that aggressively defends the territory from rivals. The remaining males live solitary lives, often on the periphery of areas controlled by larger males. They nest in holes under rocks, but do not dig dens.

Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis) © Ramy Khashab