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Each shrew establishes a home range of 370 to 630 m 2 (440 to 750 yd²). Males often extend the boundaries during the breeding season to find females. Shrews are extremely territorial and will aggressively defend their home ranges from other shrews. They make their nests underground or under dense vegetation. [6]
The breeding season lasts from April through to August. Females usually produce between two and eight young per litter and care for the young in an underground nest. Since the gestation period is just over three weeks, they can have up to five litters in one year, though the life span of a pygmy shrew is a little over 15 months. [4]
These shrews are territorial and a breeding pair of shrews is often found in a nest. [3] The forest shrew is mainly nocturnal and is an insectivore, but its diet also includes any small invertebrates it can find, including earthworms, millipedes, centipedes, crustaceans, and spiders. The forest shrew is preyed upon by barn owls, marsh mongooses ...
Some species have a relatively long, narrow snout that gives them a shrew-like appearance. [1] Species vary from 12–31 cm (4.7–12.2 in) in length and weigh 16–170 g (0.56–6.00 oz) when fully grown. [1] A. agilis is the smallest known species, and A. swainsonii the largest.
The Pacific shrew (Sorex pacificus) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae.It is endemic to western Oregon in the United States. [1] The Pacific Shrew is native to western Oregon, more specifically from the Siltcoos lake to the coast going from the border line of Douglas and Lane counties continuing south to the northern parts of California.
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 shrew, however, avoids intensively cultivated areas, as well as dense forests and sand dunes. [2] It is poorly adapted to digging burrows, so it arranges its nests in various natural shelters, crevices and others' uninhabited burrows. [5] [6] They frequent rocks, boulders, stone walls and ruins, darting quickly in and out between them. [8]
All shrews are tiny, most no larger than a mouse. The largest species is the Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus) of tropical Asia, which is about 15 cm (6 in) long and weighs around 100 g (3 + 1 ⁄ 2 oz) [2] The Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus), at about 3.5 cm (1 + 3 ⁄ 8 in) and 1.8 grams (28 grains), is the smallest known living terrestrial mammal.