Shrews | Soricidae

Spitsmuizen | Musarañas

Very small mammals with a long pointed snout full of whiskers, minute eyes and a rate of living so high that most species must eat every few hours or die. The tooth cusps are sharp and cutting; in the red-toothed shrews they are stained red-brown by iron built into the enamel of the tips, which slows their wear. Glands on the flanks give off a musky smell that makes the animals inedible to many predators — a cat will kill one but not eat it. The water shrews swim with fringes of stiff hairs along feet and tail and disable prey with venomous saliva. Several species shrink in autumn: weight, organs and even the brain decrease, and grow partly back in spring. Litters follow one another quickly, and in some species the young trail behind the mother in a caravan, each gripping the fur of the one in front.