By Sharon Lunden, Goshen Master Gardener Volunteer

This article appeared in the February 2021 Issue of Gardening in Orange County.

Most references to the shrew are Shakespearean, a nod to this tiny, often unnoticed creature with its sharp snout, unafraid to fight. Shrews do not damage enough to technically be listed as pests. However, they may tangle with your pets, dine on your birdseed, or enter your home, particularly at this chilly time of year.

At first glance, you might confuse a shrew with a mouse or a mole. Shrews are cousins to moles and both have very small eyes, but moles are bigger and have larger forefeet for digging tunnels.

New York State shrews belong to the family Soricidae, in the subfamily Soricinae (known as “red-toothed shrews,” so named for their pigmented teeth). Shrews are the tiniest mammals in the world, native to most of the planet, and they generally subsist on a diet of insects and invertebrates.

Seven known species live in NYS, each preferring its own type of habitat: the Masked Shrew, Pygmy Shrew, Long-Tailed Shrew, Smoky Shrew, Least Shrew, American Water Shrew, and the Northern Short-Tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda), the one which you are most likely to encounter in your yard.

The Northern Short-Tailed Shrew is one of the larger shrews, growing up to 4 inches in length. They seek cover, so they make their nests in mole tunnels, under logs or rocks. They live in brushy areas, cultivated fields, or in your garden, and during the winter may enter sheds and barns. Though they usually burrow through plant debris or snow with their strong paws and sharp snouts, they can also climb trees to reach your bird feeder. Because they consume up to three times their weight in food each day, they are often active day and night. They have poor vision, so use echolocation to navigate (like bats), and they have very sensitive snouts which assist in locating prey. Their salivary glands produce a venom they chew into prey to immobilize them. This venom can cause short-term pain in a human, though you are unlikely to be bitten unless you try to handle a shrew. Northern Short-Tailed Shrews, particularly males, exude a musk in order to avoid becoming dinner for other predators. They also use it to attract a mate.

A snowstorm may be the best time to notice the small creatures living in your yard throughout the winter. You may see tiny footprints as evidence of rabbits and squirrels. In the case of the shrew there’s barely any imprint, but you can see its tiny paths along the surface of the snow.

A Northern Short-Tailed Shrew once snuck underneath our garage door during a snowstorm, then squeezed through our basement door to get warm, leaving a long, meandering pathway around our snowy yard up to the garage. A beautiful little thing, slightly stinky and unhappy to be caught, was released back into the yard—only to promptly return to the basement!

Fun Video

Watch a Short-tailed Shrew take on a garter snake!

Resources

Adirondack Wildlife: The Short-Tailed Shrew – Adirondack Almanack

Strange and Unbelievable Facts About Shrews – The Nature Conservancy