Sengis are fast, small and heavily preyed upon, and one of their principal defences is a memorised escape route. Several species clear a system of trails through their home range, removing debris, and spend the day patrolling those paths for insects. When disturbed, an animal runs a known, obstacle-free trail rather than improvising through cover, which is far faster.
The system is maintained rather than merely used. Observation shows sengis spending time clearing debris from their paths, and a blocked trail slows an escape. The behaviour resembles infrastructure: the cost is paid ahead of time against a threat that arrives without warning.
The name elephant shrew misleads twice over. These animals are not shrews, and molecular work places them in Afrotheria alongside elephants, hyraxes, sea cows, tenrecs and aardvarks, which is why the name sengi is now preferred. Sengi taxonomy has also shifted repeatedly in recent decades, with new species described from Africa's drylands, so species boundaries within the group are still moving.