Family Soricidae
Arctic Shrew
Water Shrew
Pygmy Shrew
A shrew's look can be described as something between a mouse and a mole. It has
inconspicuous eyes and ears and five toes on each foot. It is small (3.5 to 6 in., 8.9
– 15.2 cm in length), usually greyish or brownish in colour, with a lighter colour
beneath, and both sexes look alike. Shrews are very swift runners above ground.
Favourite habitats are moist forest floors, swamps, marshes, bogs, tundra and mountains,
but a few species prefer dry areas. Shrews make their homes in small, round holes in
leaf litter around rocks and logs. They use surface paths of mice and voles to move about
for food. Shrews are aggressive, irritable, and nervous in nature; their diet consists of
insects, earthworms, grubs, other invertebrates and mice, as well as berries and soft
vegetation. Many shrews will eat the equivalent of their own body weight every 24 hours.
Shrew’s breed early in the year and many species have more than one litter
in a year. Shrew’s gestation period lasts from eighteen to twenty-two days and
litters range from four to ten in number, with the young typically being on their own
within three weeks of birth. Shrews normally only live to an age of two years, and they do
not hibernate in the winter months. They utter tiny, high – pitched squeaks to
communicate. It is very difficult to distinguish the different species of shrews.
Arctic Shrew – Sorex Arcticus
Description:
Size: head and body – 2.5 – 3 in. (6.4 – 7.6 cm)
tail – 1 ¼ - 1 2/3 in. (3.2 – 4.1 cm)
weight – 1/4 oz. (7.1g)
Brightly tri-colour; back, dark brown; sides, light brown; under parts, pale; brighter in
winter.
Habitat:
Spruce and Tamarack swamps in southern parts of range and tundra farther north.
Range:
Found throughout Northeast United States and Canada.
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Water Shrew – Sorex Palustris
Description:
Size: head and body – 3 1/3 – 3 4/5 in. (8.5 – 8.7 cm)
tail – 2 ½ - 3 in. (6.4 – 7.6 cm)
weight – 1/3 – 1/2 oz. (9.5 – 14.2g)
Largest long-tailed shrew with stiff hairs on the sides of its large hind feet. Glossy
black or blackish –grey above, grey, greyish– brown or silver below, with a
bicoloured tail and middle toes that are partly webbed.
Habitat:
Bogs, edges of streams, ponds and lakes in northern and mountainous areas.
Habits:
Swims, dives, and can run on the surface of water.
Range:
Throughout Eastern Canada, south through Appalachian mountains and west to Eastern
Montana and Wyoming.
Other name:
Northern Water Shrew
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Pygmy Shrew – Sorex Hoyi
Description:
Size: head and body – 2 – 2 ½ in. (5.1 – 6.4 cm)
Tail – 1 - 1 2/5 in. (2.5 – 3.6 cm)
Weight – 1/12 oz. (2.4g)
Smallest shrew in the east. Grey or greyish-brown above, paler below.
Habitat:
Wet and dry woods and adjacent grass clearings.
Remarks:
Regarded as America’s smallest living mammal, six of these tiny shrews do not
equal ½ oz (14.2g).
Range:
