No mice, though. They probably wouldn’t let me have it back anyway….Maybe it died. Very observant kid. But that’s nature I guess. Called them later, but those people were gone, I’ll call them tomorrow. Ugh! Theodore Roosevelt is considered to have been a conservationist, but he was a tremendous persecutor of large predators, notably mountain lions. Long ago I worked in an arboretum in upstate New York. Distinctive stiff white hairs on the margins of the feet, and underside of the tail forming a keel. He even has a shrew species named after him. (Go ahead and try to duplicate this feat). Thanks for the lead to Dinets. They were shrews because the nose was long and pointed, the tail was short, teeth were visible on the underside of the head and shorter legs. Until yesterday I had never seen a shrew. To this day my 2 boys remember our shrew as more of a pet than a pest. Congrats…, Thank you for your comment, Paul. I concluded that both behaviors were designed to flush insect-prey out. Hopefully I can find the hole it used to get in the house and seal it up. One fell into the pond, swam a couple of laps, then dived out and back under the rock ! You’re fun to read. Many species can only be reliably identified by examining their skulls and dentition. Superficially, many of these species look similar, with most having pointy snouts, a streamlined body and a grayish coloration. I will look into it more. Behavior of the Elephant Shrew So maybe that is why this creature has appeared. I would contact a pest control company if you have problems with them in your home. And then there’s the literary work, Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. I have one that follows the same path every day at dusk. Active most of the day, they spend their time foraging and gathering leaf litter for nests. I hoped that my mouse hunting skills would be swift, but I knew deep in my heart that when you see “a” mouse, there are at least 10 more that you don’t see, keeping watch. Life in the fast lane is tough! I wonder what his name is….the shrew, that is. Under a low growing spruce I found a whiskey bottle containing the skeletons of five shrews. Now we saw the shrew tonight and managed to get the dogs away from it with a hose. As with so many public figures that we idolize without closer examination, he had some serious flaws as a humanitarian. These circles were very tight and tiny, and the speed of movement was “blinding.”. How do they manage? Our partnership with Aggregate Industries UK Ltd, Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI), Different types of protected wildlife sites. Loved this whole article, and glad to see you’re still writing about the inconvenient lil mammal that started it all! Last week I blamed my little chihuahua for chasing a skunk. They do not possess enough venom to kill a small dog or cat. So tickled to read all your fascinating facts about shrews. A mammal with venom! Any thought? Late night was my escape into my own world of creative productivity. I had to relocate a shrew that lived in our garden, to both protect her from feral cats, and to reduce the insectivorus competition for the local hedgehog that still likes to live here (it’s incredible how many insects a single shrew eats per day!). The coat is glossy. Then it strikes quickly and with great precision. When the shrew encounters its prey – often an invertebrate, but it can also be a mouse or other vertebrate – it begins biting it, allowing the venomous saliva to flow into the wound. While I realize that this negative attitude towards large predators was common in Roosevelt’s time, I would certainly prefer politicians who are true conservationists and see the value of all species. Now I wonder if he had been chasing this shrew in our house or around it. Shrews must find and subdue prey fast. And I should note that I know several accomplished and eloquent conservationists today who hunt mountain lions. He’s very cute! I had te be quick, due to the fast metabolism. Thank you for the kind comment. The Southern Short-tailed Shrew is very similar in appearance to the Northern Short-tailed Shrew except that it is smaller measuring about 3 – 5 inches in length and weighing about 8 grams. Your most highly caffeinated, Type A colleague will appear downright slothful compared to a shrew. The water shrew has stiff hairs on its feet that allow it to scamper across the surface of the water. The Wildlife Trusts: Protecting Wildlife for the Future. I was filming it, and all the time it was sizing me up to eat me. Glad your teacher steered you toward nature writing, too, but somehow suspect that’s where you were going, anyway. I enjoyed this quick, highly informative – and amusing – read about shrews. Thank you so much for such a great, informative article ! I decided to make my final paper for the class a detailed comparison of the real shrew with the literary one. Its stiff fur also traps air bubbles, allowing it to stay underwater for short bursts. Many wildlife species feast and bulk up for the cold winter months. They’re in constant motion, rarely stopping to sleep. Thanks for the article. When it again activated, it circled and re-circled individual acorns (on concrete pavement) in a whirlwind at “warp speed,” moving from one acorn to another. It often appears from behind the cooked and seems is becoming quite confident even when there are people around. Loved your shrew(d) observations, but disagree with wanting more politicians like Theodore Roosevelt. One week my job was to clean up a poorly maintained slope covered with various evergreen species. He was a merciless hunter of big game across the globe, and a war monger. Yay for Nature’s students always learning from Her. Can you share your paper? Shrews have short life spans, from 1.5 to 3 years depending on species. I laughed and told him to leave it alone and be grateful for him living in our old farmhouse, that chances are he(the shrew) would most likely keep our home mouse free for the winter. It was on the bank of the crystal clear lake surrounding the island, hunting. He even has a shrew species named after him. So on to the discovery of the shrew. Long story short, glad to know shrew saliva is not toxic to humans. We see them quite often when we catch the feral cats playing with them. Last night a particularly large shrew (who understandably was stressed out) bit me as I tried to save his life (which I did). The paper received an “A”, along with the pointed suggestion that I pursue a career in nature writing as opposed to academia. And I understand your point of view. What I wanted to know is if they do eat every 3 hours. The Southern Short-tailed Shrews tail is always less than half the length of the head and body. I now recognize I’ve misidentified what was a shew for a mouse. I have noticed dead shrews along the greenbelt path near my home in Boise. Of course, wasting time attacking non-prey items that the whiskers brush against would burn precious energy. Most do not reach old age. If a shrew doesn’t eat within a few hours, it dies. with a country-wide population of more than 40 million shrews. How To Clean A Rabbit & Cage – Complete Owners Guide, The Best Rabbit Carrier Buyers Guide – 2020, Best Rabbit Hay Feeders – Buyers Guide For 2020, The Best Rabbit Hay – 2020 Guide & Reviews, The Best Rabbit Water Bottle Guide – 2020. Hi Sarah, What an informative and interesting read! It is dark brown above and grey or silver below. At that point I soon was able to see it, identifying it as a very tiny mouse-like creature, i.e., as a shrew.