Blarina brevicauda
Silhouette: Becky Barnes · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) is the largest shrew in the genus Blarina, and occurs in the northeastern region of North America. It is a semifossorial, highly active, and voracious insectivore and is present in a variety of habitats like broadleaved and pine forests among shrubs and hedges as well as grassy river banks. It is notable in that it is one of the few venomous mammals. The specific epithet, brevicauda, is a combination of the Latin brevis and cauda, meaning "short tail".
B. brevicauda is a red-toothed shrew, one of three or four species (depending on the authority) in the genus Blarina. It was formerly considered to be a sister subspecies of the southern short-tailed shrew (B. carolinensis). The two groups of subspecies are thought to have been kept isolated from each other by Pleistocene glaciers.
This shrew has a total length of 108 to 140 mm (4... Wikipedia →
Recording0:16
Canada · 2020
© geoffreyboulange · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:19
United States · 2024
© Kyle Aldinger · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:17
Canada · 2024
© math_foo · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Short-tailed Shrew sighting in Toronto on a given day, based on 62 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 16th most-seen of the 23 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February, May and August–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Short-tailed Shrew in Toronto on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, June–July and December, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Short-tailed Shrew sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 9
Of the 9 cities where we can rate Northern Short-tailed Shrew sightings, Toronto ranks 8th at under 5%. The best odds are in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (United States, about 10%), Washington (United States, about 10%) and Philadelphia (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Short-tailed Shrew is recorded against all the mammals logged in Toronto (62 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
