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The Eurasian pygmy shrew (''Sorex minutus''), often known simply as the pygmy shrew, is a widespread
Eurasian pygmy shrews are solitary animals, active throughout the day and night and inhabiting areas of dense vegetation across a broad elevation range. It lives off seeds, small insects and other invertebrates. They use the burrows or tunnels of other rodents to live in, alone they burrow under tree stumps.They have many predators. The whole life is spent on a few hundred square metres where they establish trackways.The Eurasian pygmy shrew has one of the highest metabolic rates of any animal; to maintain homeostasis, it must eat every two hours. Due to this, it eats up to 125% of its body weight (about four grams) each day.
They are active for 24 hours per day in very short periods interspersed with sleep (say 15 minutes
activity 15 minutes sleep)
shrew
Shrews (family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to differ ...
of the northern Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...
.
Description
It measures about in length, not including the tail, and has an average weight of .The hair on the back is blackish with shades ranging from reddish to purplish, very dense and shiny: the belly, throat, jaw, periocular area and lower part of the tail are contrasted whitish. The muzzle and legs are covered with sparse white hair (vibrissae in the muzzle ), while the skin is flesh colored: the ears are small and half hidden by the hair, they are dark flesh colored and shaped like a semicircle.In this species the head is larger in proportion to the body than in other shrews. It may be confused withEurasian least shrew
The Eurasian least shrew (''Sorex minutissimus''), also called the lesser pygmy shrew, is the second-smallest mammal by mass after the Etruscan shrew.
Appearance
The Eurasian least shrew weighs only and has a body less than long, with a ta ...
and the Etruscan shrew
The Etruscan shrew (''Suncus etruscus''), also known as the Etruscan pygmy shrew or the white-toothed pygmy shrew, is the smallest known extant mammal by mass, weighing only about on average. (The bumblebee bat is regarded as the smallest mamma ...
.
Behaviour
Eurasian pygmy shrews are solitary animals, active throughout the day and night and inhabiting areas of dense vegetation across a broad elevation range. It lives off seeds, small insects and other invertebrates. They use the burrows or tunnels of other rodents to live in, alone they burrow under tree stumps.They have many predators. The whole life is spent on a few hundred square metres where they establish trackways.The Eurasian pygmy shrew has one of the highest metabolic rates of any animal; to maintain homeostasis, it must eat every two hours. Due to this, it eats up to 125% of its body weight (about four grams) each day.
They are active for 24 hours per day in very short periods interspersed with sleep (say 15 minutes
activity 15 minutes sleep)Breeding
The breeding season lasts from April through to August. Females usually produce between two and eight young per litter and care for the young in an underground nest. Since the gestation period is just over three weeks, they can have up to five litters in one year, though the life span of a pygmy shrew is a little over 15 months.References
Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at :it:Sorex minutus; see its history for attribution.External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q244372 Eurasian pygmy shrew Mammals of Asia Mammals of Europe Mammals of Turkey Mammals of Russia Mammals of Central Asia Eurasian pygmy shrew Eurasian pygmy shrew