Native Animal Profile: Shrews

HabiChat article by Katy Gorsuch

Sorex cinereus at Billings National Historical Park, Woodstock, Vermont; photo is licensed under MPF, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)

When was the last time you thought about shrews? Many a gardener has been known to shriek as they see a small, brown, furry thing scampering through their garden, provoked by weeding or a shovel in the soil. Often the thing has dashed away so quickly, we can’t see it well enough to understand what it was. In Maryland gardens, while there is no shortage of mice, the most common culprits are voles, moles, and shrews. Voles are perhaps the most troublesome, feeding on grasses, bulbs, and other valued garden contents – while moles and shrews often get wrongfully blamed for the damage they cause. Moles and shrews can be guilty of leaving irregularities in lawns, but both are beneficial insect predators, aerators of the soil, and otherwise helpful garden partners. Maryland is fortunate to have excellent habitat for eight different species of shrew.

Shrews (family Soricidae) are a little-known family of insectivore, with a fascinating variety of complex natural histories and adaptations. They are generally quite small, 3-5 inches long, and weighing less than four U.S. quarters (0.8 ounce), with long, pointed noses and small ears. Their bodies are perfectly adapted for life underground, with a sleek skull for burrowing and tiny eyes for low light levels. Their teeth are quite sharp and spiky, unlike a rodent’s flattened incisors, for capturing and consuming insect prey. One species of shrew, the short-tailed shrew, has the unique adaptation of toxic saliva, allowing it to paralyze larger prey like frogs and small rodents for later snacking. 

Speaking of snacks, the shrew is a professional eater, munching meals nearly constantly to keep up with its speedy metabolism; even a few hours without food can mean death for a shrew. Short-tailed shrews emit a series of ultrasonic clicks to navigate and find food, similar to echolocation in bats. They prefer to be solitary, with males especially spending a lot of time and effort marking their large territories or on3 acre or more with scent glands on their flanks. Naturally, you won’t find a large population of shrews in your backyard. They are known to forage outside their tunnels at times and can emit a powerful stink from another scent gland on the belly (similar to a skunk) to ward off predators if needed. Many anecdotal observations of shrews are from those found dead in a yard or driveway, likely captured by a predator that later changed its mind.

As a group, shrews are common in the American landscape, though individual species are facing threats in our State due to habitat loss. For example, southern water shrews are globally rare and listed as endangered here in Maryland. Due to their reclusive habits and the challenges of keeping a near-constant eater in captivity, shrews are not as well understood by scientists as many other small mammals. Still, some of their amazing abilities have potential applications in biomedical fields, such as the neurotoxic properties of the short-tailed shrew’s venom. Recent studies in 2024 and 2025 have confirmed that shrews actually significantly, seasonally shrink their body and brain size by losing water for the winter. Genetics have added even more interest to the study of shrews, with 14 new species found in Indonesia in 2021, and another new species just discovered in Ethiopia in 2025. Some shrews have even become internet famous, such as the case of the “caravan” behavior seen in this Chinese shrew, also sometimes observed in other species. Because babies are nearly blind, young will latch on to each other and their mothers in a shrew conga line, following mama shrew as she finds them a new home!

Want to attract shrews to your backyard habitat? The best way is to provide a wide diversity of native plants, as they will attract a buffet of insect delicacies for a feasting shrew. Hot off the presses, check out the new Maryland Native Plant Guide for the Piedmont Region!

Many thanks to our Master Naturalist volunteer, Megan McCabe, for her contribution to these new shrew fact sheets!

Masked shrew, Sorex cinereus
Sou​theastern shrew, Sorex longirostris
Southern Water shrew​, Sorex palustris punctulatus​
​Smoky shrew​, Sorex fumeus
Long-tailed shrew​​, Sorex dispar
Southern pygmy shrew​, Sorex hoyiwinnemana
Northern short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda
Least shrew​, Cryptotis parva