Desert
Shrew
Notiosorex crawfordi
Body length: 2 -2 3/5"
Diet: Arthropods and vertebrate animals
Shrews are not rodents, but belong to a group of very different mammals called
Insectivores, which also includes moles and hedgehogs. Shrews are the smallest
land mammals on earth, and the desert shrew is tiny indeed. An adult weighs 3
- 5 grams (1/10 - 1/7 of an ounce, or less than a nickel), while a newborn is
only 1/4 of a gram.
Desert shrews spend a great deal of time underground, living among the roots of
plants and in packrat nests. Like many desert animals
they apparently do not need to drink water. Shrews are aggressive hunters, taking
spiders, scorpions, centipedes,
moths, beetles, and even lizards. In captivity, they
will even eat rodents and birds.
At Tonto National Monument shrews have been found only in Cave Creek Canyon, but
probably occur throughout the Monument.
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Updated
May 10, 2005