Common shrew: when the reputation is not deserved

What does a shrew look like: photo

Shrew.

Name: Shrews Lat.:
Sorex

Class: Mammals - Mammalia Order: Insectivores - Eulipotyphla or Lipotyphla Family: Shrews - Soricidae

Interesting Facts

The number of giant shrews has been steadily declining over the past 2 centuries. Therefore, the animal is listed in the Red Book as a species on the verge of extinction. Its representatives are protected in such Russian reserves as: Ussuriysky, Sikhote-Alinsky, Kedrovaya Pad and Lazovsky. In them, 42 individuals of the giant shrew were captured and observed to study the species.

Of all the giant shrews caught in the habitats, it accounts for about 0.8%. Archaeological data indicate that the gradual decline of the species began 3 thousand years ago. This is evidenced by the number of bone remains of shrews found in different layers of the studied pits. This is the name given to the development in the earth's crust.

Usually it is vertical or inclined. Such an ancient history of the species classifies it as a relict species. This is also indicated in the Red Book. The giant shrew's pickiness in food helps it stay afloat. The same centipedes, for example, are not eaten by other shrews.

Description of the animal

The common shrew is a member of the shrew family, which is very widespread in many countries. She is the largest of the family members.

Appearance of the animal

Giant shrew.

The shrew looks very much like representatives of the mouse family, but has an oblong muzzle that looks like a proboscis. The body length of an adult animal is 5-8 cm. The tail can reach 6-7.5 cm in length.

Sometimes it is covered with sparse hairs. The weight of the mammal ranges from 4 to 16 grams.

The fur of the animal on the back is dark brown, almost black. The fur on the belly is light brown, sometimes off-white. The color of young individuals has a lighter shade. The ears are small and densely covered with fur.

Shrew lifestyle

Animals of this species are active mainly at night. During the day, shrews can go out in search of food only in a safe place where they can hide without problems. Animals most often move on the ground and do not rise to higher ground unless absolutely necessary.

The animals are quite nimble and can jump to a height of 10-15 cm. Shrews do not hibernate and continue to search for food all year round. During cold weather, animals seek shelter under snowdrifts, where they also find food.

Despite popular belief, the shrew does not dig. The animal's paws are not intended for these purposes. She is only capable of looking for insects in the upper, loose layers of soil, using her “proboscis”. The animal often uses ready-made burrows.

What does a shrew eat?

These small mammals are predators. They devote most of their time to searching for food. The animal's constant feeling of hunger is explained by its very fast metabolism.

In summer, the main food for the shrew are:

• larvae;
• earthworms;
• insect pupae;

• butterflies;
• dragonflies;
• mouse-like rodents.

In winter, the animal's diet consists of insects that hibernate in the upper layers of the soil. Once in pantries and cellars, the animal does not spoil food supplies, but only looks for wintering insects.

These mammals consume plant foods extremely rarely. Only in the cold season can shrews supplement their meager diet with nuts or seeds from spruce and pine cones.

Reproduction of shrews

Tiny shrew.

The female shrew gives birth to offspring 2-3 times a year. One litter usually produces 7-8 cubs. The duration of pregnancy of an animal is 18-28 days. The animals are born blind and naked, but already 30 days after birth they are able to find their own food. The lifespan of a shrew is on average 18 months.

Reproduction of shrews occurs only in the warm season. Before the birth of the cubs, the female prepares a nest, which she covers with moss or dry grass. Animals choose old stumps, abandoned holes, or convenient depressions in the upper layers of soil as a place to build a nest.

External characteristics

There are many species in the shrew genus, more precisely, about 130. The differences between the animals lie in size and habitat. Well, some slight variations on the theme of color. A characteristic feature of the animal is its long body parts, namely the tail and muzzle.

Body length 5-10 cm, tail – 3-8 cm, weight 2.5-15 g. The fur cover is short-haired, from dark gray to brownish. The bellies of almost all species are light. The tail is slightly hairy, with short pile, except for the flat-skull variety, in which it is quite fluffy.

The tips of the animal's teeth are red-brown. This became the determining factor in the name. But with age, the tops of the teeth wear off, and nothing remains of the unusual color. The small ears on the head are almost invisible from under the fur. The beads of the tiny, round eyes are black. But in general, the shrew’s eyesight is weak (due to its underground existence), so the main organ in search of food becomes the nose, whose powerful sense of smell perfectly captures odors. The shrew is also quite good at echolocation.

Shrews of this species are one of the oldest creatures on the planet belonging to vertebrate mammals. Their jaws are clearly divided into canine, incisor, molar and anterior teeth. The shrew leaves behind a small chain of paired tracks. On the soft snow cover, a clearly defined path is visible from the tail.

Nature has rewarded the rodent with a bright musky smell. Therefore, even after catching an animal, many predators do not eat it.

Some types

Shrews are a whole subfamily. There are more than 70 species. There are a few of the most common ones:

• common or forest, an animal common in thickets;
• tiny or Chersky, the smallest representative up to 4 grams;
• Tibetan, similar to ordinary, but living in mountainous areas;
• Bukhara, a high-mountain animal of light brown color with a tassel on the tail;
• medium, the white-bellied variety, lives mainly on the islands;
• giant, one of the rare representatives of the Red Book;
• small, small shrew, brown-gray with full fur.

Reproduction

Giant shrews are nonfertile animals. This fact is probably one of the reasons for the gradual extinction of the species. Females give only one offspring per year. Since giant shrews lead a secretive lifestyle, scientists to this day have not been able to determine the number of young individuals in the litter. What is known is that from two to four embryos are born in the womb of females. The question of how many babies are born remains a mystery. According to some data, the lifespan of such animals is only one and a half years.

It is noteworthy that during the entire period of study of the species, naturalists were not able to catch a single male giant shrew. Therefore, the conditions under which members of the species mate are unknown.

Shrew habitat

The shrew's habitat includes almost the entire territory of Eurasia. The animal especially prefers shady and damp areas. It can be found in meadows, forests and parks.

Shrews settle near people only in winter. They find shelter for themselves in cellars and storerooms.

Do shrews come into contact with people?

In the hungriest year, they can take you to a home.

What harm do they do?

If a shrew gets into a place where people store supplies, it will look for bugs and larvae.

How can you characterize the character of an animal?

Fast, nimble, predator. Prefers not to encounter people.

Nutrition

A giant shrew manages to eat about a hundred times a day. I manage to sleep about 70 times. If you have to starve, the animal dies from exhaustion within a day. Even 3 hours can become critical. Therefore, shrews are “in business” in any weather, time of year, and day.

In contrast to mice, shrews have little plant food on their menu. The main diet is insects and worms. A special delicacy is kivsyaki. This is what centipedes are called. Millipedes and earthworms account for 95% of the rodent's diet. It becomes clear why the animal loves wet areas and deciduous forests.

Their falling and rotting greenery forms the soil favored by worms. Sometimes giant shrews catch small reptiles. Unlike other shrews, giant shrews are able to penetrate even compacted soil for food. The strength of the larger, stronger front legs plays a role.

Benefit or harm from a small animal

When the dacha plot begins to besieged by animals very similar to mice, you need to “sound the alarm.” Although not all of their actions are malicious.

• Destroys harmful insects and rodents.
• Loosens the ground.

• While hunting for food, the toiling shrew gnaws everything in its path, and these are plant roots and root crops, which subsequently spoil. In just a few days you can lose your entire harvest.
• In addition to vegetation and pests, it also eats beneficial insects, worms, and frogs.

Where does the shrew live?

Since the life of a shrew depends on its nutrition, they live everywhere where food can be found. These small animals have spread throughout the northern hemisphere. They are found in mountainous areas and on plains, in the tundra and tropical forests, near all freshwater bodies.

Some dig holes themselves, but absolutely everyone uses others’ holes, dug by moles and mice. They do not live in families, they stay alone, and in search of food they behave aggressively, even attacking their own kind. Each of them has its own plot, several square meters in size. There are approximately 500 inhabitants per hectare. What the shrew eats can be found in tree bark, leaves, and grass. In winter, in the snow, they make paths for themselves - tunnels in search of food, and in the absence of snow cover, they collect tree seeds.

Wintering

To survive the winter, the shrew, as well as for the birth of offspring, arranges a “rookery” for itself. Since she is practically blind, but has well-developed olfactory and tactile reflexes, and in silence uses echolocation, she can move into a dwelling abandoned by some animal or large insect.