Major's long-tailed tenrec (Microgale majori) is a species of mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

 in the family Tenrecidae

Tenrecidae

Tenrecidae is a family of mammals found on Madagascar and parts of Africa. Tenrecs are widely diverse, resembling hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, mice and even otters, as a result of convergent evolution. They occupy aquatic, arboreal, terrestrial and fossorial environments...

. It is endemic to Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 is the eastern humid forest of the island, as well as some western forests, where it has been seen at elevations from 785 to 2000 m. Its habits are not well known, but it is thought to be semiarboreal

Arboreal locomotion

Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In every habitat in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may only scale trees occasionally, while others are exclusively arboreal. These habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals...

. The species was formerly viewed as synonymous with M. longicaudata. It was named in honor of Swiss zoologist C. I. Forsyth Major

Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major

Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major was a Swiss zoologist and vertebrate palaeontologist.Major was born in Glasgow and studied at Basel and Zurich Universities in Switzerland and later Göttingen in Germany...

.