Distribution

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Short-Tailed Shrew

Northern Short-Tailed Shrew                                        Southern Short-Tailed Shrew

                                                                                                 

                        Source: Click (1)                                                                                                                                           Source:  Click (2)                                                     

Taxonomic        Scientific           Common                                                                              

Brief Description: The short-tailed shrew has a characteristically long and pointy snout. They are usually three to four inches long. The short tailed shrew contains poison in their saliva. (Source 1)

Phylum

Chordata

Chordates

Class

Mammilia

Mammals

Order

Insectivora

Insectivores

Family

Soricidae

Shrews

Genus

Blarina

 
 

Source (3)

Species: brevicauda

   

Habitat:  The short-tailed shrew is found almost anywhere on land.  They are more prone to live in areas like marshes, damp woodland areas, or along the outside edges of fields.  In the cold winter months a person can sometimes find them warming in barns and sheds. (3) 

Physical Description: The short-tailed shrew has a body length of 75-105mm and a tail length of 17-30mm. The females are somewhat smaller than the males. The fur of the shrew is soft and the color resembles slate gray.  The summer coat is slight paler than the winter coat.  The short-tailed shrew has a unique characteristic, the shrew produces poisonous saliva. 

(Blarina brevicauda)

It is the only mammal known to have such an adaptation. It is relatively harmless to humans but to small prey it will cause paralysis or death.(3)

Behavior Characteristics:  The short-tailed shrews are active all year and day and night.  However, there are more nocturnal than diurnal.  Theses little creatures are very efficient  in tunneling through the plant debris, snow, leaves.  They have strong claws that allow them to navigate through many obstacles and up into trees. These small creatures create their own nest and tunnels but the sometimes use previous ones made by mice and moles.  The shrews in the wild, choose to live a solitary and territorial lifestyle.  The territory size and stability are determined by the prey density of the area.  However, this territory tends to break down during breeding season when the males and females converge upon the same area.  The shrew uses a scent to mark their territorial region and they will threaten any oncoming intruder. (3)

Diet: The shrew has an enormous appetite, they eat nearly three time their body weight during the day.  Their diet consist of invertebrates, small vertebrates, and plants.  They store up food for the winter months. The shrew has such a high metabolism that it can only survive a few hours without food. (3)

Reproduction:  The shrew breeds from February to the month of September. They usually have two or three litters during this time.  They have five to seven young in each litter. The period of gestation (how long the young is in the womb) is approximately 21 to 30 days.   The shrew have separate nest for mating. The young shrews will leave their nest at or around 20 days old.  The females will reach reproductive maturity at 6 weeks of age and the males it takes twice as long, nearly 12 weeks.  The life span of a shrew is usually just a little over a year but can be as much as three years.  (3)