Shrew
Shrews[1] Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Eulipotyphla |
Family: | Soricidae G. Fischer, 1814 |
Type genus | |
Sorex | |
Subfamilies | |
|
Shrews (
Although its external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, a shrew is not a
Shrews are distributed almost worldwide. Among the major tropical and temperate land masses, only New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and South America have no native shrews. However, as a result of the Great American Interchange, South America does have a relatively recently naturalised population, present only in the northern Andes.
The shrew family has 385 known species, making it the fourth-most species-diverse mammal family. The only mammal families with more species are the muroid rodent families (Muridae and Cricetidae) and the bat family Vespertilionidae. The shrew family also probably has the largest population of any mammal family: there are an estimated 100 billion shrews in the world, with an average of a few shrews per hectare of forest.[2]
Characteristics
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)[3] 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.
In general, shrews are terrestrial creatures that forage for seeds, insects, nuts, worms, and a variety of other foods in
They do not hibernate, but some species are capable of entering torpor. In winter, many species undergo morphological changes that drastically reduce their body weight. Shrews can lose between 30% and 50% of their body weight, shrinking the size of bones, skull, and internal organs.[7]
Whereas rodents have gnawing
Shrews are fiercely territorial, driving off rivals, and coming together only to mate. Many species dig
Female shrews can have up to 10 litters a year; in the tropics, they breed all year round; in temperate zones, they cease breeding only in the winter. Shrews have gestation periods of 17–32 days. The female often becomes pregnant within a day or so of giving birth, and lactates during her pregnancy, weaning one litter as the next is born.[4] Shrews live 12 to 30 months.[9]
Shrews are unusual among mammals in a number of respects. Unlike most mammals, some species of shrews are
Echolocation
The only terrestrial mammals known to
Except for large and thus strongly reflecting objects, such as a big stone or tree trunk, they probably are not able to disentangle echo scenes, but rather derive information on habitat type from the overall call reverberations. This might be comparable to human hearing whether one calls into a beech forest or into a reverberant wine cellar.[16]
Classification
The 385 shrew species are placed in 26 genera,[17] which are grouped into three living subfamilies: Crocidurinae (white-toothed shrews), Myosoricinae (African shrews), and Soricinae (red-toothed shrews). In addition, the family contains the extinct subfamilies Limnoecinae, Crocidosoricinae, Allosoricinae, and Heterosoricinae (although Heterosoricinae is also commonly considered a separate family).
- Family Soricidae
- Subfamily Crocidurinae
- Crocidura
- Diplomesodon
- Feroculus
- Palawanosorex
- Paracrocidura
- Ruwenzorisorex
- Scutisorex
- Solisorex
- Suncus
- Sylvisorex
- Subfamily Myosoricinae
- Congosorex
- Myosorex
- Surdisorex
- Subfamily Soricinae
- Tribe Anourosoricini
- Anourosorex
- Tribe Blarinellini
- Tribe Blarinini
- Tribe Nectogalini
- Chimarrogale
- Chodsigoa
- Episoriculus
- Nectogale
- Neomys
- †Asoriculus
- †Nesiotites
- Soriculus
- Tribe Notiosoricini
- Megasorex
- Notiosorex
- Tribe Soricini
- Tribe
- Subfamily
References
- OCLC 62265494.
- ISBN 978-0-472-06497-7.
- PMID 5905563.
- ^ ISBN 0-87196-871-1.
- S2CID 87675441.
- ^ Reid F (2009). A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico. pp. 63–64.
- ISBN 978-0-8014-2595-0.
- ^ Wible J (6 February 2018). "Why Do Some Shrews Have Dark Red Teeth?". Carnegie Museum.
- ISBN 0-19-920608-2.
- ISBN 978-0313339226.
- ^ "BioProspecting NB, Inc's novel ovarian cancer treatment found effective in animal cancer model". 8 Apr 2009. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- S2CID 215414310.
- ^ "About the mammalian skull, and be able to define and/or identify on a specimen all underlined terms" (PDF).
- ^ "What is echolocation and which animals use it?". Discover Wildlife. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
- JSTOR 1380190.
- ^ PMID 19535367.
- .
Further reading
- Buchler ER (November 1976). "The use of echolocation by the wandering shrew (Sorex vagrans)". Animal Behaviour. 24 (4): 858–73. S2CID 53160608.
- Busnel RG, ed. (1963). Acoustic Behaviour of Animals. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company.
- Forsman KA, Malmquist MG (1988). "Evidence for echolocation in the common shrew, Sorex araneus". Journal of Zoology. 216 (4): 655–662. .
- Gould E (1962). Evidence for echolocation in shrews (Ph.D. thesis). Tulane University.
- Gould E, Negus NC, Novick A (June 1964). "Evidence for echolocation in shrews". The Journal of Experimental Zoology. 156: 19–37. PMID 14189919.
- Hutterer R (1976). Deskriptive und vergleichende Verhaltensstudien an der Zwergspitzmaus, Sorex minutus L., und der Waldspitzmaus, Sorex araneus L. (Soricidae - Insectivora - Mammalia) (Ph.D. Thesis) (in German). Univ. Wien. OCLC 716064334.
- Hutterer R, Vogel P (1977). "Abwehrlaute afrikanischer Spitzmäuse der Gattung Crocidura Wagler, 1832 und ihre systematische Bedeutung" (PDF). Bonner zoologische Beiträge (in German). 28 (3/4): 218–27.
- Hutterer R, Vogel P, Frey H, Genoud M (1979). "Vocalization of the shrews Suncus etruscus and Crocidura russula during normothermia and torpor". Acta Theriologica. 24 (21): 267–71. .
- Irwin DV, Baxter RM (1980). "Evidence against the use of echolocation by Crocidura f. flavescens (Soricidae)". Säugetierkundliche Mitteilungen. 28 (4): 323.
- Kahmann H, Ostermann K (July 1951). "[Perception of production of high tones by small mammals]" [Perception of production of high tones by small mammals]. Experientia (in German). 7 (7): 268–9. S2CID 26738585.
- Köhler D, Wallschläger D (1987). "Über die Lautäußerungen der Wasserspitzmaus, Neomys fodiens (Insectivora: Soricidae)" [On vocalization of the european water shrew Neomys fodiens (Insectivora: Soricidae)]. Zoologische Jahrbücher (in German). 91 (1): 89–99.
- Sales G, Pye D (1974). Ultrasonic communication by animals. London.
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External links
- Media related to Soricidae at Wikimedia Commons
- . . 1914.
- The common shrew Sorex araneus shrinks its skull to survive winter (disc. 1949, August Dehnel)