Mouse Shrew
Content
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- Types of shrews
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- Shrew habitat
In the fields you can see a mouse with a long nose. The animal is very similar to the usual vole, but it does not bring so much harm to man as his fellow. His closest relative is mole. A shrew, on the contrary, often helps people. Its diet consists of various insects that harm agricultural crops, and the animal does not touch the plants.
What it looks like
The mouse shrew is one of the smallest mammals.The weight of the smallest animal reaches 2 grams and does not exceed 3 centimeters. Newborn calves weigh less than one gram. But some individuals are mouse sized. Their weight reaches 200 g, and the growth is 12 cm.
The structure of the body of the shrew has the following features:
- Her head is large, ends with a small curved proboscis.
- The fur is tight, short, velvety.
- In some species, the tail is short, while in others it exceeds the length of the body.
- The ends of small teeth are covered with durable enamel, which is grinded to the end of life.
- Near the tail is a secret that emits a pungent smell.
The animal with a long nose, similar to a mouse, lost its keen sight in the course of evolution. It is oriented in space due to its keen sense of smell.
On a note!
It is worth looking at photos of the shrew and it will become clear that shrew look very different from the usual mouse.
The skull of a mammal has an extended brain region. Brain weight is 1/10 of body weight, which exceeds the size of a man and a dolphin.
Kinds
Common shrew
The elongated nose of the animal has a blunt shape. The back of the body is colored dark brown. The tummy is also brown, but lighter. The ears are completely covered with short and thick fur. The tail of the shrew mouse is equal to the body length. There is no wool on it. Mouse lifespan with a long nose - two years.
Interesting!
Juveniles often have a lighter color.
The animal can grow up to 8 mm. Weight ranges from 4 g to 16 g. The tail grows to 7.5 centimeters.
Tiny shrew
The smallest mammal that lives on the territory of the Russian Federation. Body size ranges from 4-5cm. The tail does not exceed three centimeters. The weight of an animal is 2 g, but it can reach 4 grams. The nasal section of the head resembles the proboscis.
Interesting!
The tiny animal is known as a mouse with a short tail. The tail is half the length of the body.
The body and tail of the mammal are covered with thick and short hair. The belly has a silver color, and the back is brown or brown.The color transition from dark to light is clearly visible on the sides of the body. In winter, the animal is painted more intense.
Shrew is listed in the Red Book of the Murmansk region. The exact number of the tiny shrew cannot be calculated because of its small size.
House Shrew
This mouse is also called the long-tailed shrew, or common shrew. The length of the animal reaches 8 centimeters, and the tail grows to five centimeters. The fur on the back is dark, brown. The tummy is gray.
Interesting!
The animal loves to live in gardens and fields. It perfectly adapted to the neighborhood with a man.
The shrew mouse can dwell in the basement or cellar. There she seeks out human food and can raise stocks of fat, sour cream, meat. Then you have to deal with getting rid of the invader. In the wild, the animal preys on insects and small mammals. Focuses on the smell and can be funny bending the nose during the sniffing of prey.
Water Shrew
The animal has another name - the common canopy. The animal grows up to 12 centimeters, and its tail reaches 55 mm in length. There are membranes on the fingers that help the mammal to swim by swimming.
The mouse can dive and swim fast. Her life takes place near swamps, lakes and rivers. There she hunts and feeds herself.
Lifestyles and habits
An interesting fact about mice You can call the way small gray mice with a curved nose use an unusual way to transfer offspring from one place to another. If the mother is required to transfer the brood, then she substitutes one cub tail. He grabs his mother tenacious teeth and puts his tail to another baby. It turns out the chain. So the animals can get to the new asylum with the full complement.
Interesting!
If the grown-up young growth reaches the size of adult individuals, then it begins to decrease. This unusual feature was discovered by the zoologist from Poland A. Dennel.
Shrew mice breed after winter. In one litter, after three weeks of pregnancy, an average of 5 babies appear. The youngsters leave the shelter at the age of three weeks.
Mice live for a short time - 1.5-2 years. The life span of females is longer than that of males for one month.
In their habitat may encounter the following enemies:
- lizards;
- other shrews;
- other types of mice.
In this case, the mammal behaves aggressively, trying to drive the enemy out of its territory.
Interesting!
The shrew got its name because it was digging the top of the earth with its nose when it was looking for food.
Babies are hunted by birds of prey and snakes. From foxes, cats and other predatory mammals they are protected by musky secret.
If this animal appeared on your territory, then the question may arise how to get rid of the mouse shrew. Methods of pest control are the same as with other rodents. Fight the shrew on the plot can be poison or ultrasonic rodent repeller.
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