Ornate shrew pictures and facts

Picture has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution.
Original source: Flickr: Buena Vista Lake Shrew
Author: Pacific Southwest Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Ornate shrew

Order : Insectivora
Family : Soricidae
Subfamily : Soricinae
Species : Sorex ornatus

The Ornate shrew is listed as Least Concern (LR/lc), lowest risk. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category, on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Facts about the ornate shrew

Granholm DISTRIBUTION, ABUNDANCE, AND SEASONALITY The ornate shrew is common in the southern two-thirds of California west of the Sierra Nevada, from Mendocino and Butte cos.

With a voracious appetite, a long snout, and tiny bead-like eyes, the Buena Vista Lake ornate shrew is one of California's most intriguing mammals.

It's a good thing the Suisun ornate shrew is only about four inches long, with the bulk of a hummingbird.

The ornate shrew is active year-round.

Another endemic, the Suisun ornate shrew, is rarely seen- even by biologists.

Abundant populations of Salt Marsh Harvest Mice are known or suspected in much of this area, and the presence of Ornate Shrew is suspected. (Full text)

Habitat: Although on the mainland, Ornate Shrews are often captured in upland plant associations such as coastal sagebrush and chaparral, their precise habitat requirements are unknown, and it has not been shown that communities such as these are important to breeding populations. (Full text)

Fewer than 30 Buena Vista Lake ornate shrews are known to exist today.

Habitat: Although on the mainland, Ornate Shrews are often captured in upland plant associations such as coastal sagebrush and chaparral, their precise habitat requirements are unknown, and it has not been shown that communities such as these are important to breeding populations.

Wandering shrews and ornate shrews are taxonomically difficult, and local distinct marsh populations or subspecies may intergrade with more widespread types within their species. (Full text)