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Johnson's 18th-century definition was: "A clamourous, rude, mean, low, foul-mouthed woman", suggesting a level of vulgarity and a class distinction from the more generalised shrew, but this nuance has been lost. [26] In Johnson's time, the word formed part of a legal term, common scold which referred to rude and brawling women see below. [27]
A characteristic behaviour observed in many species of shrew is known as "caravanning". This is when a litter of young shrews form a line behind the mother, each gripping the shrew in front by the fur at the base of the tail. [9] Shrews are unusual among mammals in a number of respects. Unlike most mammals, some species of shrews are venomous.
The northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) is the largest shrew in the genus Blarina, [3] and occurs in the northeastern region of North America. [4] It is a semifossorial, highly active, and voracious insectivore and is present in a variety of habitats like broadleaved and pine forests among shrubs and hedges as well as grassy river banks. [5]
The common shrew (Sorex araneus), also known as the Eurasian shrew, is the most common shrew, and one of the most common mammals, throughout Northern Europe, ...
The Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus), also known as the Etruscan pygmy shrew, white-toothed pygmy shrew and Savi’s pygmy shrew, is the smallest known extant mammal by mass, weighing only about 1.8 g (0.063 oz) on average.
The American pygmy shrew is the smallest mammal native to North America and is one of the smallest mammals in the world, just slightly larger than the Etruscan shrew of Eurasia. Its body is about 5 cm (2 in) long including a 2-cm-long tail, and it weighs about 2.0 to 4.5 g (0.07 to 0.16 oz). [ 9 ]
Like all shrews, the Asian house shrew is plantigrade and long-nosed. The teeth are a series of sharp points to poke holes in insect exoskeletons. It is the largest of the shrew species, weighing between 50 and 100 g and being about 15 cm long from snout to tip of the tail. [8]
The genus Sorex includes many of the common shrews of Eurasia and North America, and contains at least 142 known species and subspecies.Members of this genus, known as long-tailed shrews, are the only members of the tribe Soricini of the subfamily Soricinae (red-toothed shrews).