Northern Short-tailed Shrew
Blarina brevicauda
Summary 3
The northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) is the largest shrew in the genus Blarina, and occurs in the northeastern region of North America. It is a semifossorial, highly active, and voracious insectivore and is present in a variety of habitats. It is notable in that it is one of the few venomous mammals. The specific epithet, brevicauda, is a combination of the Latin brevis and cauda, meaning "short tail".
This shrew consumes up to three times its weight in food each day.[4] It eats small quantities of subterranean fungi and seeds, though it is mostly carnivorous.[5] It prefers insects, earthworms, voles, snails, and other shrews for the bulk of its diet, though salamanders and mice are also eaten.[5] This shrew consumes vertebrates more often than other shrews do.[5] The shrew mostly forages within a few hours after sunset, though it is also active during cloudy days.[5] High evaporative water loss requires the shrew to have access to a source of water, though it does obtain water from its food, as well.[3] The shrew often hoards food, especially in the fall and winter, or during a time of prey abundance;[3] one study found it caches 87% of the prey it catches, while 9% is eaten immediately and 4% is left where it was killed.[10]
Sources and Credits
- (c) Gilles Gonthier, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/46788399@N00/287229365
- (c) Joe MacIndewar, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Joe MacIndewar
- Adapted by Joe MacIndewar from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blarina_brevicauda
