The khilla's ancestral dentition has been adapted to suit its strictly carnivorous habits.
It is largely nocturnal and is equipped with broad burrowing forefeet.
The khilla, Carnosuncus pilopodus, is a large, coyote/jackal-like white-toothed shrew from the deserts of Asia and Africa.
In the deserts, large predators are not common and very few meat-eating mammals of any description are found. The khilla, however, is one of the few. Standing about 60 centimeters high at the shoulder, it is largely nocturnal and spends most of the day hidden in a network of burrows excavated in soft sand. At night it hunts smaller mammals and obtains most of the water it needs from the moisture contained in their flesh.