Etruscan Shrew

About this species

Size

Body 3–5.2cm; tail 2.4–3.2cm

Weight

1.3–2.5g, usually about 1.8g

Diet

Invertebrates including insects, larvae and earthworms; also young amphibians, lizards and rodents

Habitat

Warm, damp, shrubby ground, often where open terrain meets deciduous forest

Litter size

2–6

Gestation

27–28 days

The Etruscan shrew is the smallest living mammal by mass, weighing 1.3–2.5 g, usually about 1.8 g, with a slender body of 3–5.2 cm and a tail of 2.4–3.2 cm. It has a long mobile snout, protruding ears and pale brown fur. Its metabolism is so fast that it eats one and a half to two times its body weight daily, mostly invertebrates such as insects, larvae and earthworms, and sometimes the young of amphibians, lizards and rodents (Wikipedia, general species account).

The species has a very wide range across Europe, Africa and Asia, and in Asia it is recorded in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan among many other countries. It favours warm, damp, shrubby ground, often where open terrain meets deciduous forest. Gestation is 27–28 days and litters are two to six. The accounts consulted give no India-specific detail (Wikipedia, general species account).

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)