West African shaggy rat long as the head-and-body length; it is ringed by small scales and clad with sparse short bristles. The head-and-body length of this rat averages and the weight averages . The West African shaggy rat is native to tropical West Africa; its rangeincludes Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. It inhabits wetlands and swampy areas, streams, riverbanks, lakesides, young oil-palm plantations and rice fields. The West African shaggy rat is a terrestrial species. It is nocturnal and a good swimmer. It lives in a shallow burrow, the entrance often hidden under a
The Gambia at the Olympics judoka (2016), and a swimmer (2016), but in all other years the Gambia has been represented solely by runners. The Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC) was formed in 1972, but not recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) until 1976. The GNOC is based at Olympic House, Bakau. In April 2014, on government orders, police seized the building and barred GNOC employees from entering. At the same time, the Ministry of Youth and Sports placed a travel ban on GNOC officials. The disruption meant that the Gambia did not send athletes to the 2014 African Youth Games in Botswana. Following