North American Least Shrew

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North American Least Shrew^[1]

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Soricomorpha
Family:	Soricidae
Genus:	Cryptotis
Species:	C. parva

Binomial name

Cryptotis parva
(Say, 1823)

The North American Least Shrew (Cryptotis parva) is one of the smallest mammals, growing to be only up to 3 inches long. This tiny shrew is active at all hours of the day, but mostly at night. The North American Least Shrew has a long pointed snout and a tail never more than twice the length of their hind foot. It has a dense fur coat that is either grayish-brown or reddish-brown with a white belly. Its fur becomes lighter in the summer and darker in the winter. Although similar in appearance to several species of rodents, all shrews are members of the order Soricomorpha and should not be mistaken for a member of the Rodentia order. Found in the grasslands of Eastern United States and in Central America, the North American Least Shrew utilizes the surface runways of rodents larger than itself.

The North American Least Shrew's eyes are small and its ears are completely concealed within its short fur, giving the North American Least Shrew very poor eyesight and hearing. Hunting by smell and touch, the North American Least Shrew digs through loose soil and leaf litter for their prey along the surface of the ground. The behavior of captive individuals suggests that it can also tunnel through moist soil in search of food much like moles do. Its diet consists of mostly small insects, but it will also eat from the corpses of dead animals, and small amounts of seeds or fruits. When eating crickets and grasshoppers, the North American Least Shrew will bite off the head of its prey and eat only the internal organs. When fighting a larger creature, the North American Least Shrew will aim for the legs and try to cripple its adversary. The North American Least Shrew will bite lizards, which are often too large for the North American Least Shrew to kill, on the tail, which then falls off and provides the North American Least Shrew with a meal while the lizard escapes. The North American Least Shrew will also sometime live inside beehives and eat all the larvae. It will often share its food with other shrews, or store it away for later.

The North American Least Shrew makes its home in burrows or shallow runways under flat stones or fallen logs. Its burrows are about 2.5cm in diameter, form 25cm to 1.5m long, and seldom more than 20cm below the ground. The North American Least Shrew is a social creature and often cooperates in digging its burrows and often sleeps together. It will line its burrows with leaves and grass in nests for the purpose of rearing children. The breeding season extends from early March to late November. Females produce two or more litters each season. Each litter will consist of about three to six young, each on weighing about 0.3g, which grow quickly and will be adult size in about one month. The North American Least Shrew rarely lives more than a year. The natural predators of the North American Least Shrew are owls, hawks, the Red Fox, the Raccoon, skunks, and snakes. The North American Least Shrew will try to defend itself with its venomous saliva.

In Canada, a small population of this animal has been found at Long Point in Ontario.

[edit] References

^ Hutterer, Rainer (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 273-274. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
^ Insectivore Specialist Group (1996). Cryptotis parva. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern