Shrew

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Shrews[1]
Temporal range: Middle Eocene–Recent
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eulipotyphla
Family: Soricidae
G. Fischer, 1814
Type genus
Sorex
Subfamilies

Shrews (

West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews
, which belong to different families or orders.

Although its external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, a shrew is not a

magnorder
. Shrews have sharp, spike-like teeth, whereas rodents have gnawing front incisor teeth.

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+12 oz)[3] The Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus), at about 3.5 cm (1+38 in) and 1.8 grams (28 grains), is the smallest known living terrestrial mammal.

Water shrew skeleton

In general, shrews are terrestrial creatures that forage for seeds, insects, nuts, worms, and a variety of other foods in

metabolic rates, above that expected in comparable small mammals.[5] For this reason, they need to eat almost constantly like moles. Shrews in captivity can eat 12 to 2 times their own body weight in food daily.[6]

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

milk teeth before birth, so have only one set of teeth throughout their lifetimes. In some species, exposed areas of the teeth are dark red due to the presence of iron in the tooth enamel. The iron reinforces the surfaces that are exposed to the most stress, which helps prolong the life of the teeth. This adaptation is not found in species with lower metabolism, which don't have to eat as much and therefore don't wear down the enamel to the same degree. The only other mammals’ teeth with pigmented enamel are the incisors of rodents.[8] Apart from the first pair of incisors, which are long and sharp, and the chewing molars at the back of the mouth, the teeth of shrews are small and peg-like, and may be reduced in number. The dental formula
of shrews is:3.1.1-3.31-2.0-1.1.3

Shrews are fiercely territorial, driving off rivals, and coming together only to mate. Many species dig

predators, although this is not universal.[4]

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

jugals), so have incomplete zygomatic arches.[13]

Echolocation

The northern short-tailed shrew is known to echolocate.

The only terrestrial mammals known to

Eurasian or common shrew (Sorex araneus) and the American vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans) and northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda). These shrews emit series of ultrasonic squeaks.[15][16] By nature the shrew sounds, unlike those of bats, are low-amplitude, broadband, multiharmonic, and frequency modulated.[16] They contain no "echolocation clicks" with reverberations and would seem to be used for simple, close-range spatial orientation. In contrast to bats, shrews use echolocation only to investigate their habitats rather than additionally to pinpoint food.[16]

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).

References

Further reading

External links

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