#shrews

[life-on-our-planet]

As the smallest diving mammal hunting for this water shrew lasts only a few seconds, but their technique underwater is remarkable. Their eyesight is poor so they rely on foraging along the bottom to find movement with their long whiskers. To find stealthier prey they have the rare ability to smell underwater. By blowing tiny bubbles of air they can detect scent particles in the water. Nature on PBS

[nightmaresyrup]

Elephant SHROO!

Are they monogamous? The sillyness of snouted orbs dancing together followed by a snuggle feels kinda romantic?

[antiqueanimals]

Ranger Rick's Nature Magazine; November 1973 edition. Signed Sandström.

Internet Archive

[bleaksqueak]

(Eyes Emoji) Hello there, it's time for new hell! I mean. Learning. About fun! Also there may in fact be a special guest from Lark and Wren's Woven, as well as another special guest courtesy of Goetia.

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[mammalidentifier]

Dear Mammal identifier, some time ago I downloaded this funky gif of an odd little creature™

Sadly however, I have since forgotten what the fuck this beastie is. Besides "really weirdly constructed" that is.

Could you please help me identify this little lad and/or lass?

Many thanks.

Sure thing! That’s a rufous elephant shrew (Galegeeska rufescens)!

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

The northern short-tailed shrew is a rather unremarkable species of shrew, save for the remarkable trait of being one of the few venomous species of mammal. Its saliva contains a toxin that is used to paralyze its prey- namely insects, salamanders, and other small mammals. Though painful to humans, the toxin is not fatal.

(Image: A northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) caught in a rare above-ground excursion by Gilles Gonthier)

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[maiandros-along]

Shrews

(And mole type things)

Special shout out to shew with hoops, accidental Hasidic shrew, and the ones in love.

[mortphilippa]

Jaqlaund - a Redwall inspired setting

I made some artwork for Jaqlaund 5e, a Redwall inspired setting guide where all the characters are animal folk!

[beetlepaper]

all this mole interest got me thinkin bout shrews

[bungleblazter5000]

[byteofsoup]

🥔 shrewsGrip follow

I'm scared

11 notes

🐀 afraidshrew3 follow

I really hope there isn't a fox, owl, cat, snake, large spider, large centipede, small crocodile, small alligator, large child, small child, or mousetrap outside today

1,364 notes

🍂 consumer-of-grain follow

I'm reallt rwaally scared

1 note

🦉 bigbird1994 follow

Don't mind me...

1M notes

[ravestar]

i hope everybody knows about marsh shrews, aka jesus shrews, because they're named that because their fur is so fluffy they're buoyant enough to run on water

[antiqueanimals]

World Guide to Mammals, 1976. Illustrated by Peter Barrett.

[zedecksiew]

THE MANY FACES OF FAMINE

There is a hunger abroad in the world; the more it eats the more it wants to eat. Who choose to be its mouths?

6/3 - 12/3 #dungeon23

Not a dungeon. Just a list of NPCs. Probably antagonists. Possible allies.

Links to previous entries all over, particularly the God-In-Pieces, for Shiki's origin. Also am trying to leave crumbs for myself, for the weeks to come.

Mostly an art exercise. I wanted to try more faces, because I am bad at drawing characters.

Drawing so many animals is kind of cheating, though. They are easier to render as expressive, because we anthropomorphise them by default? Addin looks the weakest here, to my eye.

The entries are oh-kay, I guess. The fish owl is my shamelessly stealing from myself; it's basically a riff on the fish owl in Creatures of Near Kingdoms. Most pleased with the way Gurgling Shiki speaks? Nice that I managed to make a detail about them fit their name well.

+

#dungeon23 thing I loved this week: the Flaksand Desert, by Joris Dormans. Man, illustrations in colour. You people go hard.

[mammalidentifier]

I feel somewhat certain that this is the northern short tailed shrew (blaring brevicauda), but maybe it’s some other kind of shrew? can you confirm/deny my suspicions? Thanks! ps love your blog

Looks like a correct identification to me! Blarina shrews look a lot alike if we don’t count their size, which is hard to gather from a photo so the only way to be 100% sure would be knowing where exactly this one was spotted. Personally, though, I find that northern short-tailed shrews tend to have shorter snouts than the other species in the genus, which gives them a more “hamster-like” appearance rather than a “rat-like” appearance, if you will. Just compare it to the southern short-tailed shrew (Blarina carolinensis) and Elliot's short-tailed shrew (Blarina hylophaga):

[ph-cutie]

bless their hearts