The long-tailed shrew or rock shrew (''Sorex dispar'') is a small

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 ...

found in Atlantic Canada and the Northeastern United States. This shrew is slate grey in color with a pointed snout, a long tail, and lighter underparts. It is found on rocky slopes in mountainous areas along the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast from Gaspé Peninsula,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, and Cape Breton Island,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, to northern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It eats insects and spiders. Predators include hawks,

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

s, and snakes.

Physical features

The long-tailed shrew is small, slender, black to slate-gray in color, and with a long tail. Its average length, including tail length, is . The head and body length can be . The tail length, which averages from 80 to 90% of head-body length, ranges from . The long-tailed shrew has a hind foot length of , and can have a total body weight of . The tail is furry with hair that is faintly bicolored. In older long-tailed shrews, a loss of hair from the tail may be exhibited. The long-tailed shrew has a long, slender muzzle with long whiskers that range from long. In the summer, the pelage color of the long-tailed shrew is slate gray with the ventral side of the body lighter than the dorsum.

Range

The long-tailed shrew has an unusually limited geographic range. The species can be found in the Appalachian Mountains, Nova Scotia, and Southeastern New Brunswick, from Canada southward along the mountains to North Carolina, and small ranges of the species in Tennessee. In New York, the long-tailed shrew is found in the

Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...

and

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

. It is only found in a small area in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. In Massachusetts, the long-tailed shrew is only found in Berkshire County.

Habitat

The long-tailed shrew generally inhabits two types of environments: near mountain streams, or under and among rocks. The species can be found in mountainous, forested areas that could be deciduous or evergreen, and in rocky, damp areas where deep crevices are abundant that can be covered by leaf mold and roots. In numerous descriptions of the species habitat, rocks are an important component of the habitat, giving the species the name rock shrew.

Behavior

The long-tailed shrew uses its long tail for balance when it is climbing among the rocks or boulders. It spends most of its time underground or between the numerous crevices found in its environment. It is active all year-round

Diet

The long-tailed shrew has an extremely narrow skull, as well as large incisors which give it the ability to extract insects, spiders, worms and centipedes from the rocky crevices of its environment.

Reproduction

Reproduction in the long-tailed shrew occurs in spring and summer; the breeding time ranges possibly late April to August. The long-tailed shrew produces one or two litters from May through August, with two to five young per litter. As a result of its short lifespan, sexual maturity is reached in less than a year.

Conservation

Overall, no major threats of the long-tailed shrew exist throughout its range. However, the species has ingested pesticides from the invertebrates it consumes. Most long-tailed shrews reside in public lands, national forests, parks, or remote lands. To help conserve them, mass disturbance of habitat land is to be prevented, as well as much protection from pesticide contamination as possible.

Similar species

The northernmost examples of this species were until recently thought to be a separate species, the Gaspé shrew (''S. gaspensis'') inhabiting the Gaspé Peninsula and Cape Breton Island. However, a 2004 study indicated that the two species were conspecific, with the long-tailed shrew exhibiting a

cline Cline may refer to: Science * Cline (biology), a measurable gradient in a single trait in a species across its geographical range * Cline (hydrology), a fluid layer with a property that varies * Cline (mathematics) or generalised circle, a circl ...

towards a smaller size at the northern edge of its range. When they were regarded as separate species, the Gapsé and long-tailed shrews inhabited similar habitats, but were thought to be sympatric species with adjacent ranges. They are now generally accepted to be the same species, with ''S. gaspensis'' a junior synonym, not a subspecies.

References

{{Authority control Sorex Mammals of Canada Fauna of the Northeastern United States Fauna of the Southeastern United States Mammals described in 1911 Taxa named by Charles Foster Batchelder