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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 North American least shrew will also sometimes live inside beehives and eat all the larvae. It will often share its food with other shrews. It eats more than its body weight each day and is known to store food. [4] [7] The North American least shrew makes its home in burrows or shallow runways under flat stones or fallen logs.
The American water shrew or northern water shrew (Sorex palustris) is a shrew found in the nearctic faunal region located throughout the mountain ranges of the northern United States and in Canada and Alaska. [3] The organism resides in semi-aquatic habitats, [4] and is known for being the smallest mammalian diver. [5]
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 ]
The shrew has to eat almost constantly, because they can only survive a few hours without food. [7] Their metabolism drops when they are at rest. McCay and colleagues (1997) found a higher abundance of masked shrews in non-irrigated forests due to a higher availability of larval insects, which is the preferred food source of the masked shrew.
The genus Blarina, commonly called short-tailed shrews, is a genus of relatively large shrews with relatively short tails found in North America. Description [ edit ]
This animal is found near streams in cool damp deciduous and mixed woods. It makes extensive, solitary, burrows in the leaf litter on the forest floor or builds globular nests 10–15 centimetres (3.9–5.9 in) of plant materials under rocks. The smoky shrew rarely digs tunnels, instead it uses tunnels created by moles or other shrews.
In older long-tailed shrews, a loss of hair from the tail may be exhibited. The long-tailed shrew has a long, slender muzzle with long whiskers that range from 22 to 23 mm (0.87 to 0.91 in) long. [3] In the summer, the pelage color of the long-tailed shrew is slate gray with the ventral side of the body lighter than the dorsum. [4] [5]