#Northern short-tailed shrew

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Round One: Connoisseur Critters

Vampire Finch vs Northern Short-tailed Shrew

Arena: Deciduous forest

Remember, it's not a popularity contest- it's a fight to the death!

[sistermallorycarpenter]

Saw a shrew (Blarina brevicauda) yesterday and it filled me with joy

[image ID: a photo of a small, black shrew on snowy ground. The video shows the shrew poke out of its hole and and sniff around. End ID]

[speepybees]

the shrew :3

[1o9]

[eukaryotesrool]

I FUCKING FOUND IT:

The Northern Short-Tailed Shrew

THERE, THE FULL IMAGE, LOOK AT HIS WITTLE TAIL! WHICH AMOUNTS TO LESS THAN 25% OF THEIR 4.3-5.5 inch (108-140mm) BODY, FEMALES ARE SLIGHTLY SMALLER THAN MALES!

This makes them the largest shrew in their genus- oh, I forgot.

Scientifically known as: Blarina brevicauda (brevi meaning short, and cauda meaning tail)

Their genus, Blarina.

They are one of few venomous mammals, their lethal (to small animals, up to slightly larger than themself) protease based bite paralyzes its prey, and, again, can be lethal, but the shrew will likely get to it before the venom kills them. Their bite is merely painful to humans.

(Loooooooooong)

Their tiny eyes are merely light receptors, and their sense of smell seems to be poor, they make use of echolocation and a developed tactile sense.

This nocturnal shrew makes use of tunneling, and stores about 87% of its hunted prey (according to one study) for the winter, it lives in the North-East quarter of the USA and a South-East chunk of Canada.

This territorial animal consumes more vertebrates than most shrews. Mice, fellow shrews, and, salamanders are all on the menu, though, it prefers Earth worms, insects, snails, and voles, it even uses vole fur for its nest.

I was glad to learn this lil guy is considered least concern by IUCN, due to their large range and population.

What is this!?

Hello all, this charming lad's image is on the wiki page for shrews

And I was naturally enraptured by it, but... just what in God's garden is this thing? I tried brute forcing it, but like, there's a lot of shrews, they're just a family, but they're also the fourth most species-diverse mammal-family, sitting at a cool 385 known species (that's a nice chunk 'o biomass)

SO, I ask you kind people of Tumblr.com, what is this, I simply must know.

[iamthekaijuking]

It wasn’t a vole but a shrew! Specifically a northern short tailed shrew. I’ve always wanted to see a shrew in person so this was a dream come true!

Ignore my horrid voice

[canis-lupus-caspi]

In Intro to Fisheries and Wildlife Science class, we put out small mammal traps and looked at them this morning. We got red squirrels, a few mice, and (most adorably) this little baby shrew!

[spookyfoxdreamer]

[forfunandprofit]

[bowelfly]

the two were inseparable and incorrigible. the moment you took your eyes off them they'd sneak away from their monastic duties and into the cask cellar and by the time you found them they'd be so deep in their cups you'd just have to let them dance it out and reprimand them in the morning.

American shrew mole (Neurotrichus gibbsii) and Northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda)

[studiolemonboy]

Mutants of Cherry Creek (pt 2)

Some MORE mutated critters from my YA lovecraftian horror comic set in 90s New England.

Mutagenic ooze is seeping into the town of Cherry Creek and mutating normal New England wildlife into terrifying monsters. The Cherry Creek Middle School Paranormal Investigation Club sets out to discover, catalogue, and tame all of the mutated cryptids and hopefully find the source of the toxic ooze before it permanently infects everything (and everyone) in town.

Northern Short Tailed Shrew — one of only a few venomous mammals

Brown and Black Bears - walk on two legs, climb trees, intelligent

Eastern Crayfish - present in the fossil record for at least 300 million years Eastern

Moose - huge but stealthy

Eastern Newt (Red Eft) — can secrete a strong smelling chemical from glands in its skin

At first, the animals just seem weird, strange, a little “off”. Over time, exposure to the ooze causes these creatures to get bigger, meaner, and much more dangerous. (all the beginning stage creatures shown here are newly mutated, their final stages are after only a few weeks of exposure)

I also love folklore and cryptids and I really love the idea of this club of dorky middle school cryptid hunters assigning names like “bigfoot”, “mothman”, and “hodag” to these monsters so can try and contextualize something they don’t really understand. Soon the club realizes these aren’t fun isolated critters but symptoms much larger impending ecological disaster!

I picture it like pokemon evolution, going from a cute water turtle to a kaiju which is a lot for a ten year old to handle.

Which is your favorite? What cryptid would you wanna see? What animal should I “Cryptify” next? lmk what you think!

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda)

Habitat & Distribution

Northern short-tailed shrews live underground in grasslands, marshes, deciduous and evergreen forests, and urban areas

They are found throughout northeastern North America

Physical Description

Weight: 15 to 30 g (0.53 to 1.06 oz)

Length: 108 to 140 mm (4.3 to 5.5 in) including the tail

Northern short-tailed shrews are covered in dense, velvety fur which can be grey, brown, or black

Although they do have eyes, their use is limited to detecting light; their primary sense is touch, enhanced by its whiskers, and echolocation

Behaviour

The northern short-tailed shrew spends most of its time burrowing underground, searching for food-- namely insects like worms, snails, roots and other burrowing rodents

This species is solitary outside the mating season

Their main predators include snakes, birds of prey, coyotes, raccoons, and opossums

Key Advantages

The saliva of this species contains a toxin that can paralyze animals several times its own size

The northern short-tailed shrew is quite adept at using echolocation to detect prey underground

Most mammalian predators are deterred by the musky odor that individuals can emit when threatened

Photo by Philip Myers

[mammalidentifier]

I feel somewhat certain that this is the northern short tailed shrew (blaring brevicauda), but maybe it’s some other kind of shrew? can you confirm/deny my suspicions? Thanks! ps love your blog

Looks like a correct identification to me! Blarina shrews look a lot alike if we don’t count their size, which is hard to gather from a photo so the only way to be 100% sure would be knowing where exactly this one was spotted. Personally, though, I find that northern short-tailed shrews tend to have shorter snouts than the other species in the genus, which gives them a more “hamster-like” appearance rather than a “rat-like” appearance, if you will. Just compare it to the southern short-tailed shrew (Blarina carolinensis) and Elliot's short-tailed shrew (Blarina hylophaga):

[sharkneto]

why is the humble shrew your enemy?

lmao this is a niche museum opinion but northern short-tailed shrews' (Blarina brevicauda) skin is too well attached to their bodies so they're a pain to skin and make into study skins

If it weren't for that they are neat little animals, one of the few venomous mammals

[morganpdf]

i am becoming a huge fan of shrews. like elephant shrews are the obvious cute creature that people love but common shrews. piebald shrews. northern short tailed shrews. vagrant shrews. my god. thinking about shrew congas again

[prudenceanagram]

fur sona (Northern short-tailed shrew!)