Phylum Chordata Rank Tribe | Scientific name Desmanini Higher classification Talpinae | |
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Underwater sniffing in russian desman desmana moschata
The desman, a snouted and naked-tailed diving insectivore of the tribe Desmanini, belongs to one of two Eurasian species of the mole family, Talpidae.
Contents
This tribe consists of two monotypic genera of semiaquatic insectivores found in Europe: one in Russia and the other in the northwest of the Iberian peninsula and Pyrenees. Both species are considered to be vulnerable. They have webbed paws and their front paws are not well adapted for digging.
The list of species is:
In the media
video report
In popular culture
One of the main characters in Noah's Island, Sacha, is a friendly but simple-minded desman known for the catchphrase "Oisky Poisky". In the novel "The Truelove" by Patrick O'Brian the naval surgeon and naturalist Steven Maturin recalls his excitement at the age of eight at his first sighting of "the Pyranean desman".
