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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.
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]
Common & Eurasian pygmy shrews (genus Sorex), size comparison. The common shrew is not an endangered species, but in Great Britain it, like other shrews, is protected from certain methods of killing by the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981. [16] In Britain, shrews can be found at densities of up to one per 200 m 2 (240 yd²) in
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.
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 ]
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 Eurasian pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus), often known simply as the pygmy shrew, is a widespread shrew of the northern Palearctic. Description.