Monday, February 25, 2013

The shrew

Some people think shrews can look like mice. Personally I don't think they look at all like mice besides their size. I do however agree that they look like moles or voles. They have a long, pointed nose and soft looking fur. Their fur is usually a tan or brown color. Their bellies are usually a nice white. I bet when they walk on the ground their bellies turn brown, I really wouldn't be surprised.

They live in forests, grasslands, and deserts. They can like in trees, under ground, under snow and even sometimes they like on the side of a river or water.
Shrews can be active throughout day and the night but mainly they are nocturnal. When night comes the main thing they do is search around for food.

They have quite an appetite! They eat insects, worms, small fish, plants, and fruit. They have even been known to kill prey their own size! This can be mice and even other shrews. Everyday shrews eat 80-90% of their own body weight! Because of how often they eat, their forever growing teeth get worn down. It's a good thing because like rats, if their teeth didn't get worn down they might grown into their brain causing them to die. Yeah, not a pretty thought. Anyway, back to their teeth. They have sharp teeth that can easily puncture your skin or the skin of the small animals they eat. I suggest not to let them bite you! I don't see why anyone would in the first place.

They usually live until they are about a year old. This is because they are very easy to get for a tasty treat. This makes it is hard for them to survive. Don't say that they can't hurt you around them cause if they see you coming oh boy, you don't know what their teeth can do!

Even though it is hard for them to survive they are very wide spread animals. In fact they are the fourth most wide spread mammal in the world! They might be so wide spread because they can have up to 25 babies per year. I mean, that's a lot of babies. I wouldn't want 25 little shrews squeaking around when I try to give them food! Okay... maybe I wouldn't mind that. :D

This is interesting: apparently, some species of shrews are venomous. The venom is injected into the body of predators or prey, sometimes they might just poison things that scare them. I guess you could call it a reflex. The venom is injected by grooves in their teeth. This makes their sweet figure all the more scary!

Sometimes their venom is used to treat high blood pressure. Now this doesn't mean you say to yourself "lets go find some shrews and get them angry so they will poison us with their venom! This oughta get ride of our high blood pressure!" Hah! No, first of all this might just cause your blood pressure to rise. Not to mention how painful it will be. The bite will swell up like crazy. So, yeah... don't do that. But sometimes doctors use it to treat things like migraines, diseases, and even a type of cancer! As sweet as they look unless you know if they are venomous or if you study them, please try not to get one angry.

Here is my drawing of the common shrew:
He "looks" sweet doesn't he?? Just kidding shrews can be as sweet as rats! Which as I said millions of times are not "nasty"!!

Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you all learn a whole lot and I hope you all enjoyed the post!!
Coco

3 comments:

grace said...

yes, I did enjoy the post! Thanks.

Anonymous said...

The venom of the shrew certainly is useful! This was another interesting and informative post!!

Yansci

chilejack said...

Good article Coco! I especially like the venom part.