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Northern Short-tailed Shrew, Lower Saint-Lawrence, Quebec, Canada
Photograph by Gilles Gonthier. Some rights reserved. |
Northern Short-tailed Shrew, Lower Saint-Lawrence, Quebec, Canada
Photograph by Gilles Gonthier. Some rights reserved. |
Northern Short-tailed Shrew, Lower Saint-Lawrence, Quebec, Canada
Photograph by Gilles Gonthier. Some rights reserved. |
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MAMMAL FACTS
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Description
The Northern Short-tailed Shrew has velvety, soft fur with short tail and small eyes. It is gray with slightly paler underside. The summer fur is lighter than the winter fur. They are stocky and about the size of a mouse. The ears are almost hidden by the fur.
Other Names
Mole Shrew
Size
Length: 7.5cm - 10.5cm. Tail length: 1.7cm - 3cm.
Environment
damp woodlands, marshes, gardens, fence rows, and country roadsides. They build runways under leaves, dirt, and snow and make their nest in tunnels, under logs or amongst rocks
Food
Feeds on invertebrates, small reptiles and frogs and some plants. They produce poison from their salivary glands which helps them overcome prey larger than itself such as salamanders, frogs, snakes, mice, birds.
Breeding
A litter of 3 - 10 (usually 5-7) young is born after a gestation period of 21 - 22 days. The young are weaned at about 20 days.
Range
southern parts of Canada from Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia. United States from Dakota and Nebraska eastwards to the coast, and as far south as Arkansas and Georgia
Classification
| Class: | Mammalia | | Order: | Insectivora | | Family: | Soricidae | | Genus: | Blarina | | Species: | brevicauda | | Common Name: | Northern Short-tailed Shrew |
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