The Hispaniolan Solenodon

I wasn't born - to my knowledge - with a specific love of long-snouted animals, but an interest in wildlife was bound to lead me there one day. This cultivation was hammered home when working at Norwich County Court from 1992 until 2005 where all sorts of nonsense took place involving myself, and others who will remain anonymous under psuedonyms such as Trunka, Uncle Oojah, and Broughty. A lot of this nonsense - some true, some false - is documented in my biography of the forgotten comic impressario, Ponthe Oldenguine, available from Atomic Fez Publishers. Long-snouted animals had an important part to play in Ponthe's life. And here is a good example:

This is the Hispaniolan solenodon, a strange looking shrew-like creature with a long snout and specialised teeth capable of delivering venom. Only two solenodon species exist today, one in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the other in Cuba. Just look at the length of that snout.