The Mammal Society

For Evidence Based Conservation

 

Species – Pygmy Shrew

Pygmy Shrew – Sorex minutus

 

Habitat: Urban & gardens, deciduous woodland, grassland, mixed woodland, arable land.
 
Description: A very small mammal with markedly pointed snout. As in the common shrew, the fur is greyish brown (dirty white ventrally), but the pygmy shrew is smaller and has a proportionately longer and thicker tail.
 
Size: 40-60 mm; tail 32-46 mm
 
Weight: 2.4-6.1g. Weight may decrease up to 28% in winter.
 
Lifespan: Peak mortality is at 2-4 months and the maximum lifespan is around 13 months.
 
Origin & Distribution: Widespread throughout the mainland of Britain and Ireland, in most terrestrial habitats which offer sufficient ground cover. They are also found on the Isle of Man and Outer Hebrides, where common shrews are absent. Pygmy shrews are active day and night, largely above ground. They make and use “surface tunnels” in vegetation and will frequent burrows dug by other animals. They seem to be relatively more common on moorland than are common shrews.
 
Pygmy shrew distribution (in green), taken from ‘Britain’s Mammals 2018: The Mammal Society’s Guide to their Population and Conservation Status.’
 
Diet: They feed mainly on insects, arachnids and woodlice, requiring regular meals and eating up to 125% of their body weight in food daily. Unlike common shrews, they rarely eat earthworms.
 
General Ecology: As in all shrews, senses of smell, hearing and touch are well-developed. Pygmy shrews are solitary and aggressive towards conspecifics. Home ranges vary from around 500-2000 square metres, depending on habitat, with maximum densities of around 12 per hectare. Strict territoriality is only abandoned during the breeding season.
 
Breeding: Pygmy shrews overwinter as immatures and breed between April and October, producing two or three litters of 5-7 young. Their main predators are owls and other avian predators, particularly those which hunt on moorland.
 
Conservation Status: Shrews are protected under the 1981 Wildlife & Countryside Act. As with all shrews, they may be trapped only under licence. In any trapping study on small mammals, care is necessary to avoid killing shrews, which are extremely susceptible to death by starvation due to their small size and correspondingly high metabolic rate. Traps should be provided with suitable food (e.g. mealworms, meat) and/or visited at least every 2 hours. The main habitat requirements are vegetation cover and invertebrate food.
 

Identification

Medium brown/grey fur on top and dirty white underneath. Long pointed snout with small ears and very small eyes. Tiny size of 4-6cm and a tail length of 3-4cm, smaller than the common shrew. Tail length 70% of head and body length.

Confusion species

Common shrew (Sorex araneus)

Larger size than pygmy shrew. Tri-coloured coat; dark back, paler sides and even paler underside, as opposed to two-tone coat of pygmy. If you get a closer look: tail proportionately shorter than pygmy and less domed head.

Water shrew (Neomys fodiens)

Much larger than pygmy shrew. Black fur on top with very pale (often white) underside in adults, compared to brown fur of pygmy shrew. Often with small white patches on ears, which pygmy does not have. If you get a closer look: prominent keel of stiff, silvery hair on underside of tail, in contrast to generally hairier tail of pygmy. Head of water shrew much less domed than pygmy.

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