L. imhausi Skull Replica measures 2.5 inches. L. imhausi Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane resin cast. Known as Manned Rat
The L. imhausi or Maned rat is a nocturnal, long-haired and bushy-tailed East African rodent that superficially resembles a porcupine. The world’s only poisonous rodent, the Maned rat borrows toxins from plants to fend off predators.
The L. imhausi or Maned rat’s body can grow up to 14 inches long, or 21 inches from head to tail. The coat consists of long, silver and black-tipped guard hairs over a dense, woolly, grey and white undercoat, with the face and limbs having short, black fur.
A mane of longer, coarser black-and-white banded hairs extends from the top of the animal’s head to just beyond the base of the tail. This mane is bordered by a broad, white-bordered strip of hairs covering an area of glandular skin.
The forelimbs and hind limbs have short black fur. The forefeet are large and digit 1 of the forefeet does not have a claw while digits 2-5 have a well developed claw.
The L. imhausi or Maned rat diet in the wild consists largely of leaves, fruit, and other plant material, but it has been known to eat meat, cereals, root vegetables, and insects in captivity.
Food is eaten by sitting on its haunches and using its forepaws to bring food items to its mouth.
It is the only species in the super family Muroidea whose stomach is highly compartmentalized. The stomach contains five anatomically discrete sections that superficially resemble the sacculated configuration characteristic of ruminant artiodactyls.
By virtue of its large size and biomass, L. imhausi or Maned rat may be one of the few muroid rodents that can harbor a symbiotic microflora in the foregut and profit metabolically from gastric fermentation of cellulose.
The L. imhausi or maned rat was believed to be solitary, but is now known to be somewhat sociable, with multiple animals trapped in the same territory; they purr and groom one another. Thus it is possible they form family groups of a male, female, and offspring.
The litter size is 1–3. The young are slightly haired at birth and white markings and black stripes on the body are visible after 9 days.
By day 13, the eyes open. The hair is sufficiently long that the crest can be erectile by day 20. The newborns become mobile by day 23 and are weaned by day 40.
