Looking at that Wikipedia page, I didn't realize there were multiple "grading" systems for conservation risk. Interesting that two different systems have two different risk assessments for the same animal.
A few years ago we had a couple of feet of snow in a day. As I was snow blowing the driveway, I noticed all these little tunnels on the edge that was cut off by the side of the blower.
Then I saw a tiny little animal. I thought he was a mole. So I took my glove off and picked him up, as a good hillbilly would do.
That thing bit me like fifteen times up my thumb before I could react to yeet him across the yard.
I had a northern short tailed shrew running around my basement. After luckily live catching it (and getting the correct id), I also discovered that they are mildly venomous. Go figure.
Wish it hadn't found a way into the house, as I would have liked to have it keep clearing pests out of my yard. It got dropped off else where quickly, after a snack.
Are these the same critters that squirls have been hunting and eating? Big thing about that with the squirls catching them, and killing them "with a bite to the neck" just like bigger preditors, and then chowing down.It was somewhere over California way, and there were researchers studying the systematic hunting by squirls, so these shrews days might be numbered, even after surviving extinction.
I used to get $1 for a squirl tail when I was a kid, sold them at the store, and used the money for gas for boat and boxes of shells.....wonder what a shrew is worth:).kidding, kidding..ok half kidding....anybody actualy know?
You picked up a wild animal and it fought for its survival.
That's not evidence of being mean but alive and interested in staying that way.
I had a similar experience with a common squirrel that found its way into a friend's kitchen. It's a story about a stupid human treating a wild animal as his pet cat and getting holes in his hand in the process, not how squirrels are mean.
Thank you! I have no patience for articles headlined with “Picture of rare <blank> taken!” that do not lead with the picture. If I want to read more about it, I will, but lead with the damn image. I know I know, the whole point is to show me ads, etc. Still gonna fart my fart into the wind I guess.
That picture at the beginning is a high quality troll, I spent ages looking at it before I read the caption: "The team set up traps in vegetation areas like this one to capture Mount Lyell shrews."
>Editor's note: This story was corrected at 12:15 p.m., Jan. 17, to clarify that the shrews weigh 2 to 3 grams, according to the researchers' measurements.
> No way its got less that 5 ccs of blood in a 9-10 cm long body.
Scaling that body up by a factor of 10 would get you 5 × 10³ = 5,000 ccs of blood in a 90-100 cm long body.
That’s 5 liter. We also have (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_volume) “A typical adult has a blood volume of approximately 5 liters”, and the typical adult is quite a bit taller than 90-100 cm.
According to other Wikipedia articles (https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorex_lyelli), almost half of that length is the tail, so that might explain it. Also, I assume most of the "bulk" you see in the photos is fur (which a small mammal in a harsh climate needs a lot of for insulation).
His channel has lots of other amazing videos documenting creatures, mostly cold blooded. The level of knowledge imparted is very high, not just another wildlife show. Definitely worth watching.
I'm not an expert biologist by any means, but I do believe that this shrew - this critter, if you will - fulfills all the criteria of being just a little guy or girl.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 98.0 ms ] threadImage: https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236362254...
Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lyell_shrew
Looking at that Wikipedia page, I didn't realize there were multiple "grading" systems for conservation risk. Interesting that two different systems have two different risk assessments for the same animal.
A few years ago we had a couple of feet of snow in a day. As I was snow blowing the driveway, I noticed all these little tunnels on the edge that was cut off by the side of the blower.
Then I saw a tiny little animal. I thought he was a mole. So I took my glove off and picked him up, as a good hillbilly would do.
That thing bit me like fifteen times up my thumb before I could react to yeet him across the yard.
Lesson learned.
Wish it hadn't found a way into the house, as I would have liked to have it keep clearing pests out of my yard. It got dropped off else where quickly, after a snack.
There is a reason that unpleasant women are called shrews[1], for example as in The Taming of the Shrew[2].
[1]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shrew
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew
That's not evidence of being mean but alive and interested in staying that way.
I had a similar experience with a common squirrel that found its way into a friend's kitchen. It's a story about a stupid human treating a wild animal as his pet cat and getting holes in his hand in the process, not how squirrels are mean.
This reminds me I've been meaning to set up a moth trap.
That's got to be a typo...
[1] https://www.jax.org/jax-mice-and-services/strain-data-sheet-...
>Editor's note: This story was corrected at 12:15 p.m., Jan. 17, to clarify that the shrews weigh 2 to 3 grams, according to the researchers' measurements.
The shrew is between 8.9 and 10 centimetres (3.5 and 3.9 in) long[4] and weighs 4–5 grams (0.14–0.18 oz).[5] It has 32 teeth.[4]
Must be a mistake on both?!? No way its got less that 5 ccs of blood in a 9-10 cm long body.
Scaling that body up by a factor of 10 would get you 5 × 10³ = 5,000 ccs of blood in a 90-100 cm long body.
That’s 5 liter. We also have (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_volume) “A typical adult has a blood volume of approximately 5 liters”, and the typical adult is quite a bit taller than 90-100 cm.
That should be the title, not god damn Big Foot level anticipation.
https://youtu.be/Jd2CdraSqt0?si=7xcYlM_GH4-1uw_k
His channel has lots of other amazing videos documenting creatures, mostly cold blooded. The level of knowledge imparted is very high, not just another wildlife show. Definitely worth watching.