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Intl. J. of Molecular Zoology, 2011, Vol.1, No.2, 4
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6
4
A Review Open Access
Treeshrews, the Primitive Primate Mammals for Medical Experimental Animals
Paul A. Young
Animal Group, Saunders Bioscience Institute at BC, Canada
Corresponding authors email:
;
International Journal of Molecular Zoology, 2011, Vol.1, No.2 doi: 10.5376/ijmz.2011.01.0002
Received: 2 Aug., 2011
Accepted: 15 Aug., 2011
Published: 30 Aug., 2011
Copyright: © 2011, Young This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Young, 2011, Treeshrews, the Primitive Primate Mammals for Medical Experimental Animals, Intl. J. of Molecular Zoology, Vol.1, No.2, 4
-
6
(
doi:
10.5376/
ijmz. 2011.01.0002)
Abstract
Treeshrews are small, squirrel-like mammals native to the tropical regions of Southeast Asia, which are placed in
Scandentia
order including two families,
Tupaiidae
and
Ptilocercidae
.
There are five genera including 20 species. Genus Tupaia
having 15 species is the largest genus in the order. Northern treeshrew (
Tupaiabelangeri
)
and common treeshrew (
Tupaiaglis
)
are two
of the most famous treeshrews in the Tupaia genus. To date, there has been a great controversy as to whether treeshrews should be
placed in the order of insectivore or primates. Treeshrews are generally considered to have a close genetic relationship to primates,
and also have some unique characteristics suitable laboratory animal, such as relatively small body mass, high brain-to-body mass
ratio, short reproductive cycle and life span, treeshrews have been proposed to be used as an alternative experimental animal for
primates. In the past decade, treeshrews as an alternative animal model has been widely applied in biomedical research and safety
testing for medicine.
Keywords
Treeshrew;
Scandentia
;
Primates; Primate experimental animal
Introduction
Treeshrews are small squirrel-like mammals native to
the tropical regions of Southeast Asia (Figure 1). Due
to its close genetic relationship to primates, treeshrews
have been used as an alternative medical experimental
animal to nonhuman primates, and have since received
extensive attentions.
Figure 1 Photos of treeshrews
Note: A: Common treeshrew (
Tupaiaglis
) ,
B: Northern treeshrew (
Tupaiabelangeri
)
(
Courtesy: Wikipedia)
1
Characteristic Description
Treeshrew is as lender mammal having a long tail and
grayish to reddish-brown soft fur. The body size of
terrestrial species seems larger than that of the
arboreal species; the former has larger claws for
digging up insects. The treeshrews was omnivorous
animals feeding on insects, small vertebrates, fruits
and seeds. The dental formula of treeshrews in general
is with poorly developed canine teeth (small)
and the unspecialised molars (Hutterer et al., 1984).
The lateral neck stripes of treeshrews are one of the
hallmarks distinguishing from other species.
Arboreal treeshrews are binocular so they may have
good visual sense; most treeshrews are diurnal except
the pen-tailed treeshrew, which is nocturnal.
Female treeshrews reach sexual maturity about four
months after birth, most treeshrew species have no
definite breeding season, but breeding mostly occurs
from February to July. The gestation period lasts about
45-50
days, and they can give birth to three or more
litters per pregnancy. The newborns blind and hairless
and is able to leave the nest after about a month. During
lactation, maternal care from the mother treeshrew
relatively little, only a few minutes are spent every
other day on suckle young (Hutterer et al., 1984).
Treeshrews live together in small family groups, and
to defend their territory from outsiders’ invasion, they
often use a variety of odor glands or urine to mark
their territory.
2
Species Taxonomy
Treeshrews belongs in
Scandentia
order with two
3.3.1.3
3.3.1.2
