Southern Short-tailed Shrew
| Southern Short-tailed Shrew[1] | |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Soricomorpha |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Genus: | Blarina |
| Species: | B. carolinensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Blarina carolinensis (Bachman, 1837) |
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| Southern Short-tailed Shrew range | |
The Southern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina carolinensis) is a small, gray, short-tailed mammal that inhabits the eastern United States.[3] The overall appearance is somewhat like a rodent, but is a member of the order Soricomorpha and should not be confused with a member of the order Rodentia. This shrew has a long, pointed snout and ears that are nearly concealed by its soft dense fur. The Southern Short-tailed Shrew is found in forests and meadows where there is plentiful food and cover.
Its burrows are built in two layers, one near the surface, and a deeper one joined below it. The burrows are often built below logs, which can be penetrated and honeycombed if the log is rotten. The Southern Short-tailed Shrew is a social animal that has been known to share its burrow systems with several individuals. The male and female live together during the prebreeding season.
The Southern Short-tailed Shrew's diet consists of insects, annelids, vegetable matter, centipedes, spiders, scorpions, mollusks, rodents and reptiles, and it has been known to store snails for the winter. The saliva is venomous and is injected into the wounds of its prey by the teeth. Its venom is strong enough to kill mice, but is not lethal to humans.
The breeding season lasts from February to November, and females have two or three litters per year. The gestation period lasts from 21 to 30 days, and each litter consists of two to six young. The young are reared in nests of grasses and leaves by which entry is gained through a tunnel. These nests for the nests are much larger than their resting nest.
Known predators include snakes, hawks, owls, foxes, weasels, skunks, and cats.
[edit] References
- ^ Hutterer, Rainer (16 November 2005). Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M.. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 269. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3.
- ^ Hammerson, G. (2008). "Blarina carolinensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/41452. Retrieved 07 February 2010.
- ^ Foust, Desirae. "Blarina carolinensis". Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Blarina_carolinensis.html. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- The Mammals of Texas Revised Edition by David J. Schmidly
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Blarina carolinensis |
