Our neighbour's cat ,managed to catch a shrew the other day. Apparently they are living under some ferns in a retaining rockery in his garden which retains our land.

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How big is the shrew (well, what's left of it)? It seems to me that the ones I've seen here in Washington state are smaller than that.

I am always finding dead shrews on the bicycle path. It would seem that the owls drop them.

Kingfisher

This post was last modified: 28-08-2007 07:15 PM by Kingfisher.

About 3" long but I didn't want to show the gory bit where the at had got hold of it. They are tiny cute little things. Very sad.

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This post was last modified: 29-08-2007 07:41 AM by tibbar.

That is a bit gory, but it is enough to show me that you have different shrews than what I see here.

The ones I see are actually considerably smaller!

Kingfisher

This is a Common shrew (Sorex araneus) details are:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Insectivora
Family Soricidae
Genus Sorex (1)

Size Head-body length: 48 - 80 mm (2)
Tail length: 24 - 44 mm (3)
Weight 5-14 g (2)
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We also have a pygmy shrew which is smaller :-
Pygmy shrew, lesser shrew
Sorex minutus

British shrews are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and it is an offence to kill them without a special licence.
Statistics - Body length: 42-62mm, Weight: 2.5-6g.

Physical Description
Pygmy shrews are similar in appearance to the common shrew except for their smaller size, and pygmy shrews have a proportionally longer and thicker tail.

Distribution
They are widespread across the whole of Europe except for the Mediterranean region, and range eastwards through Siberia and in the south to the Himalayas in Asia.

Habitat
Pygmy shrews are found in forests and grasslands, wherever there is plenty of ground cover.

Diet
They feed on insects, spiders, slugs, snails and carrion.

Behaviour
Pygmy shrews are solitary and are equally active during the day as at night. They are intolerant of other pygmy shrews, but are less inclined to fight than common shrews and tend to avoid other individuals.

They have significantly larger home ranges than common shrews, averaging 1400-1700 square metres. During winter, their home ranges increase in size as food becomes scarce.

They build nests below the ground or under dense vegetation. As with the common shrew, they have a good sense of smell and feeling, but they do not dig for their prey.

Reproduction
After a gestation period of 22-25 days, females give birth to 4-7 young, which are weaned after 22 days. They breed from April to October, with a peak in the summer.

Conservation status
The conservation status of pygmy shrews is unknown. As with the common shrew, they are hunted by owls, foxes, stoats, weasels and cats.

I am going to have to do a bit more research on my local shrews! After doing a bit of research on them, it seems that they are quite different from the shrews in the UK.

I will update when I find one or more to photograph.

Kingfisher