SHREWS
IN CHENANGO COUNTY
Donald
A. Windsor
Chenango
County is within the published ranges of 6 species of shrews. Here
is a table of some field characteristics ranked by body length.
Measurements are in inches.
|
Species
|
Body length
|
Tail length
|
Hind foot length
|
Tail features
|
Pages and plates in Reid
|
|
Masked
Sorex cinereus
|
2 1/8
|
1 1/2
|
1/2
|
Black tip.
|
369
Plate 32
|
|
Pygmy
Sorex hoyi
|
2 3/8
|
1 1/4
|
3/8
|
Hairs at tip are long.
|
378
Plate 32
|
|
Least
Cryptotis parva
|
2 1/4
|
3/4
|
1/2
|
|
383
Plate 33
|
|
Smoky
Sorex fumeus
|
2 3/4
|
1 7/8
|
1/2
|
|
365
Plate 32
|
|
American Water
Sorex palustris
|
3 1/4
|
2 3/4
|
3/4
|
|
364
Plate 33
|
|
Northern Short-tailed
Blarina brevicauda
|
4
|
1
|
5/8
|
|
380
Plate 33
|
Reid,
Fiona A. Shrews and moles: Soricimorpha. In: A Field Guide to
Mammals of North America North of Mexico. 4Th
Edition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 2006. Pages 360-390.
The
Pygmy is unique because it has only 3 unicuspids visible. The others
have 5. This is not a good field mark, so distinguishing the Pygmy
from the Masked is risky. A guess can be made by the tail features,
but it is probably unreliable.
Here
is a general rule. A small shrew, body length around 2 inches and
tail length over an inch, is either a Pygmy or a Masked. With a tail
length under an inch, it is a Least.
A
larger shrew with body length around 3 inches and a tail length under
2 inches is a Smoky. With a tail length over 2 inches, it is an
American Water. This species lives near water.
A
large shrew, with a body about 4 inches and a tail only 1 inch, is a
Northern Short-tailed. This is the largest shrew in North America.
Reid
lists 42 species of shrews in North America.
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