At the San Diego Zoo, our rock hyraxes are offered super high-fiber pellets, a bit of produce, and hay. Rock hyraxes feed in a circle formation.

The rock hyrax (/ ˈ h aɪ. r æ k s /; Procavia capensis), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (from some [3] interpretations of a word used in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East.

Hyraxes (from Ancient Greek ὕραξ (hýrax) ' shrew-mouse '), also called dassies, [1] [2] are small, stout, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the family Procaviidae within the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. [3]

The rock hyrax may resemble a rodent, but it is actually distantly related to elephants and manatees! Like elephants, they even have tiny tusks (long, pointed tusk-like incisors). Unlike elephants, hyrax have feet built to climb on rocky areas.

Aug 7, 2020 · Rock hyraxes are colonial animals, living in groups of up to 50 individuals. They share sleeping areas and forage for food together. Every morning, rock hyraxes spend a few hours sunbathing and warming up.

There are five species of hyrax: rock hyrax, yellow-spotted (or bush) rock hyrax, western tree hyrax, southern tree hyrax, and eastern tree hyrax. The rock hyrax & yellow-spotted hyrax are social, diurnal, and terrestrial, while the tree hyrax are arboreal, solitary, and nocturnal.

Only three branches survived to modern times: the largest land animals in the world, the elephantine Proboscideans; the enigmatic and aquatic sea-cow Sirenians, and some lesser-known dumpy little rodent-like things called Hyraxes also sometimes known as ‘dassies’.

Hyraxes retain little tusks, toes, and a skull structure similar to that of an elephant. They are called rock hyraxes because they live in the cracks and crevices of rocks throughout much of Africa. Built for rock climbing, they easily run up steep, smooth rock faces.

The rock hyrax has similar teeth, toes, and skull structure to that of an elephant and shares an ancestor with the elephant. It has strong molars, which it uses to eat tough vegetation, and two large incisor teeth that grow out to be tiny tusks, just like an elephant.

On July 21, four tiny Rock Hyraxes - a species with a remarkable genetic link to the elephant - were born at Chester Zoo. This is the first set of Hyrax babies for the zoo. Small and stocky and resembling miniature adults almost immediately, Rock Hyrax babies weigh just a few ounces!