Sorex fumeus

photo credit: www.mnh.si.edu

ID

  • Second largest of the eastern long-tailed shrews
  • Dark, mouse-gray winter upper fur and lighter underpart fur
  • Olive-ish brown summer upper fur and pale, sometimes silvery underpart fur
  • Relatively prominent ears (Whitaker)

Distribution

 Credit: Smithsonian Institution

Reproduction

  • Breeding season lasts from spring until fall with the first litters usually born in late April
  • Gestation lasts about 20 days with litter sizes of 2-8 young
  • Usually there are two litters per female per year, but occasionally they produce another fall litter
  • Females do not breed in their first year, but overwinter as adolescents and breed in their second year (Whitaker)

Behavior

  • Does not hibernate and is, in fact, active on the coldest days of winter
  • Travels in the burrows of other small mammals or underneath leaf litter (Whitaker)

Food Habits

  • Small invertebrates (earthworms, centipedes, insects, larvae), small salamanders, plant matter, sowbugs(Whitaker)

Size/Life Cycle

  • Average measurements: 110-127 (total length), 6-11 g (total weight)

Predators

  • Owls, hawks, foxes, weasels, larger shrews, other mammalian predators (Whitaker)

Habitat

  • Shady, damp woods of either hardwoods or conifers (Whitaker)