Eurasian Pygmy Shrew

Taxobox
name = Eurasian Pygmy ShrewMSW3 Hutterer | pages = 292]

---

image_width = 250px
status = LR/lc
status_system = iucn2.3
status_ref = IUCN2006|assessors=Insectivore Specialist Group|year=1996|id=29667|title=Sorex minutus|downloaded=2006-5-12Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Soricomorpha
familia = Soricidae
genus = "Sorex"
species = "S. minutus"
binomial = "Sorex minutus"
binomial_authority = Linnaeus, 1766

The Eurasian Pygmy Shrew ("Sorex minutus"), often known simply as the Pygmy Shrew, is a widespread shrew of northern Eurasia. It is the only shrew native to Ireland.cite web |url=http://homepage.eircom.net/~edrice/mammals/shrew.htm |title=Irish mammals — the Pygmy Shrew |accessdate=2007-12-27]

Active throughout the day and night, the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew lives in undergrowth and leaf litter and lives off small insects and invertebrates.cite web |url= http://www.uksafari.com/pygmyshrews.htm |title=UK safari on Pygmy shrews |accessdate=2007-12-27] It has an average weight of 4 grams and has one of the highest metabolic rates of any animal, meaning it must eat at regular intervals — every two hours or so. [cite web |url=http://phibius-log.blogspot.com/2007/07/sorex-minutus.html |title=Phibius-log.blogspot.com — Sorex minutus |accessdate=2007-12-27]

The breeding season lasts from April through to August. Females usually produce between two and eight young per litter and care for the young in an underground nest. Since the gestation period is just over three weeks, they can have up to five litters in one year, though the life span of a Pygmy Shrew is a little over 15 months.

In April 2008, the Greater White-toothed Shrew was discovered in Ireland.cite web | url = http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428071113.htm | title = For Good Or Ill, Ireland Gains Another Mammal Species | publisher = Science Daily | author = | date = 2008-04-28 | accessdate = 2008-05-07] While the introduction of the species will possibly sustain threatened birds of prey, such as the Barn Owl, the nonnative mammal could threaten some of the smaller native species, such as the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew.

References

External links

* [http://www.uksafari.com/pygmyshrews.htm UK safari]