There are five endangered shrews in Malaysia, although only two are listed as critically endangered. These are the black shrew and the Malayan water shrew, which only live in Malaysia. Other endangered shrews are the Bornean tree shrew, Borneo water shrew and Malayan shrew. Shrews are tiny mouse-like animals with long tails. They burrow near water and eat insects and small water creatures. Shrews in Malaysia have become endangered due to deforestation, fish traps and pollution.
Malaysia contains two critically endangered bats, the horseshoe bat and the Malayan roundleaf bat. The native false serotine bat is also endangered. There are not any critically endangered rats; however, the mountain spiny rat, small spiny rat and summit rat are endangered. These animals only live in Malaysia and are extremely rare. Bats and rats are important to the food chain; without them, more animals would become endangered. Both bats and rats are found in the mountainous and plains areas of Malaysia.
The Javan rhinoceros and Sumatran rhinoceros are on the critically endangered list due to deforestation and poaching. Other large mammals on the endangered list include the Asian elephant, banteng (a cattle-like mammal), blue whale, orangutan, otter civet, proboscis monkey, Sei whale and tiger. Loss of habitat and prey due to human encroachment is a large part of the reason for these mammals to be on the endangered species list.
