### person:

Shrew
* All shrews are comparatively small, most no larger than a mouse
  - small, with dense, velvety fur, long tails, and tiny eyes and ears
  - have a long snout, which gives their head a triangular shape when seen from above
* Many shrews starve to death during the winter.
* Most shrews are a rather drab gray or gray-brown
  - active all year and by day and night, with regular periods of rest
  - less than half the size of adult mice
  - smaller than the average mouse and only weigh a few ounces
  - terrestrial animals
  - cause damage
  - eat prey
  - enter water
  - feed on insects
* Most shrews have brown fur
  - claws
  - dark-brown fur, though some tend toward yellow, reddish, or gray
  - distribution
  - feet
  - fluffy tails
  - kidney weight
  - senses
  - identify mates
* Most shrews live in habitats
  - on or under the ground, searching through the vegetation for food
  - look for mates
* Most shrews lose body heat
* Most shrews possess powerful scent glands
* Most shrews produce sound
  - ultrasonic sound
* Most shrews reach maturity
  - sexual maturity
* Most shrews vary in color
* Some shrews are aquatic
  - bitten by tarantulas
  - can echolocate
  - carry diseases
  - consume small animals
  - develop life
* Some shrews eat animals
  - beetles
  - caterpillars
  - grasshoppers
  - enter ranges
* Some shrews exhibit skeletal characteristics
  - territorial behavior
  - feed on earthworms
  - generate heat
* Some shrews have arch brows
  - digestive tracts
  - digits
  - eyesights
  - faint rings
  - fringes
  - long snouts
  - poison
* Some shrews have poor eyesights
  - vision
  - short digestive tracts
  - keep in cages
* Some shrews live for months
  - in gardens
  - produce venom
  - rely on milk
  - require protection
  - share common ancestry
  - use pitch
* are Maine's smallest mammals
  - Washington's smallest mammals
  - a nuisance when living near houses and other dwellings
* are active day and night, but mostly after dark
  - in bouts throughout the day, both summer and winter
  - also very smart animals
  - always hungry
  - among the smallest mammals on Earth
  - blackish or brownish in color with a pale belly
  - chiefly terrestrial, living among ground litter
  - extremely nervous animal
  - fiercely territorial, driving off rivals, and only coming together to mate
  - fossorial, i.e., they burrow, dig, and forage in the leaf litter of wooded areas
* are found all over the world
  - only in the northwestern portion of South America
  - generally solitary except when they pair off during the breeding season
* are good burrowers and swimmers
  - highly territorial animals and only socialise with one another in the mating season
  - insectivores
  - more closely related to the mole and weasel
  - our smallest mammals
  - preyed on by owls, snakes, and Pacific giant salamanders
  - rodents
  - short-legged and have a long pointed nose with long whiskers
  - short-lived
  - small highly active mouselike mammals
* are small mammals with cylindrical bodies, short and slender limbs, and clawed digits
  - short legs, relatively long tail, small ears and small eyes
  - small, short-legged, mouselike animals with long, pointed noses
  - the most common mammals caught in discarded bottles and drink cans
  - tiny, nondescript mammals, and all look very similar in external appearance
  - unusual among mammals in a number of respects
* are very active and consume large amounts of food for their size
  - active, solitary, surface dwellers
* are very small and very aggressive mammals
  - mammals which spend most of their lives underground
* become a residential pest when they migrate indoors.
* belong to an entirely different order from rodents like mice.
* bite prey.
* can eat their own body weight in earthworms, insects, nuts, and mice on a daily basis
  - enter homes through a hole the size of a dime
* communicate with one another by shrill high pitched squeaks.
* eat insects and feed owls, hawks and snakes
  - insects, spiders and other small invertebrates
  - insectsand other protein sources
  - seeds
* exist in practically all terrestrial habitats, from montane or boreal regions to arid areas.
* feed manily on insects, worms, and other small animals.
* feed on insects, and usually eat three times their body weight in food each day
  - primarily on invertebrates like earthworms, slugs, grubs, snails and insects
* find food by burrowing through loose soil or grass, leaves, and other material above ground.
* form an important part of their winter diet.
* generally are nocturnal and diurnal, timing activity to prey activity patterns
  - live above ground and build burrows for shelter and sleeping
* have a a toxin in their salivary glands that enable it to subdue larger prey than themselves
  - foul odour caused by scent glands on the flanks as well as other parts of the body
  - good sense of smell and hearing, but their eyesight is poor
  - very short life span and high reproductive rate
  - extremely rapid metabolic rates
  - musk glands that give off a strong odor, especially when handled
  - poor eyesight , but use their excellent sense of smell and good hearing to locate food
  - short, dense fur, clawed feet, a long snout, sharp teeth, and big ears
* have small eyes because they live underground
  - home ranges that cover less than a city block
* have the highest metabolism of any mammal in North America
* hunt grasshoppers.
* includes arms
  - body substances
  - cell membranes
  - corpi
  - cytoplasm
  - heads
  - human bodies
  - material bodies
  - necks
  - nuclei
  - personality
  - plasma membranes
  - sections
  - vacuoles
* leave behind pyramid shaped mounds of feces and have a very distinct smell.
* live everywhere but the southern half of South America , Australia , and Antarctica.
* live in all continents except Australia and Antarctica
* often live in the same area as voles.
* possess glands
* prefer moist, well-vegetated habitats.
* probably mature, breed and die on an annual turnover basis.
* raise several litters each year.
* resemble shrews.
* sometimes conflict with humans, however
  - stay beneath the snowpack for a long time
* usually inhabit moist areas.
  - widely in habitat preferences throughout North America
* weigh grams.