Terrestrial Life - Shrews

Overview ("Shrew," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003)
-Shrews are small mouselike mammals, related to the mole, with a long, pointed snout and soft, gray-brown, velvety fur
nocturnal animals that feed primarily on insects and worms but also eat mice equal to their own size, as well as plants and occasionally fish and other aquatic animals.
-Many species have glands from which a fluid with a disagreeable odor is secreted, and some species have a poisonous saliva.
-Members of one subfamily of shrews hunt by means of echolocation, although this sense is relatively crude compared to its development in bats.

Common Characteristics ("Shrew," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003)
-In the United States:
- most common are the long-tailed shrews
- slightly less than 7.5 cm (less than 3 in) long.
- ears are larger than in some other shrews, and the teeth are brown at the tip.
- five to seven young are produced in a litter each spring.
-short-tailed shrews.
- mole shrew, the most common shrew in the eastern United States,
- about 11.4 cm (about 4.5 in) long.


Reference:
1.    John Whitaker Jr. (1996). The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals
2.    "Shrew," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003, http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555846/Shrew.html