Pygmy Shrew - The Smallest and Fastest Mammal in the Backyard!
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- Pygmy Shrew - the Smallest Mammal. Caught a glimpse of this diminutive critter as a blur picking up exactly one piece of bird seed at a time and set a camera trap for it. Even at 1/8 normal speed it's a blur. Doesn't exactly look like any mouse I know and is pretty small for a Vole. It's front and back feet are identical so its no mole! Its hole was about the size of a quarter. The video was taken in the Great Smoky Mountains and it may be the elusive Pygmy Shrew - the smallest mammal in North America by weight! What is it? More HD videos every week. Please Subscribe at:
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I'm not sure - all the shrews seem to have pointed noses. this little one has a pink nose and dainty little feet and doesn't tunnel just has a little burrow under the landscape fabric and rock. It seems to small for a Vole but has a short hairy tail and ears you can't see unlike a most mouses.
You have probably figured it out after all these years, but this is a short-tailed shrew. If nothing else, you can tell by the short tail! But there are other key features, and to anyone who's accustomed to looking at shrews, it's as easy as telling a cat from a dog. This IS a short-tailed shrew. Also, short-tailed shrews are THE most common kind of shrew in most of their range, and the only kind that most people will ever see.
I'm pretty sure now its the elusive Pygmy Shrew - I'm going to see if I get a few more captures now that I know where they live. Thanks for watching and for the tweets!
I though mole at first and still don't know for sure, it seems so fast with clear open eyes and eating bird seed and tiny little feet. Cute though - thanks for watching and have a great Sunday!
Interesting footage. It looks like a short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda). They are about 3 inches long, not counting the tail, with black or grey velvety fur. A pygmy shrew is brown and about 2 inches long including its tail.. Google the two species to see what I mean.
After further digging I think you may well be right - it generally fits an animal I've just found out about and never heard of, the American Pygmy Shrew.
Thanks - its so low on the food chain it can't be exposed for more than a few seconds is guess. I thought about mole, there are three kinds in the eastern U.S. and this fellow seems to small and doesn't have the front feet for digging - I think you're right - moles are carnivorous - this little one likes seeds or one seed at a time :-)
That is awesome! I checked out how small this animal is. Cool, that you get some footage of this rare animal. Great job! :)
I know - couldn't really tell for sure by searching through Google. It's more of a mouse-size creature but has a short bushy tail and tiny little ears :-)
oh wow... very fast. hard to tell
What a beautiful little animal! It looks like a mole, but I thought that these animals eat earthworms.
Can it be shrew? It moves usually real fast...
Wow this little guy is fast! Looks like a mole to me! Cute little thing tho! Thanks for sharing. I had to watch twice lol.
Thanks - I've been on a lucky streak lately :-) . I'll see if I can get an answer from an expert to be sure.
so ya did find out what it was. thats cool !
Its not a shrew , that is a mole.
It's hard to tell in the video, but it has little delicate front feet not for serious digging. I'll have a better video to upload in the near future. Thanks!
@@MyBackyardBirding Yes, a common mole has front feet that are so huge, and with "arms" so short, that they can't even put both front feet flat on the ground at the same time, so they sort of "paddle" awkwardly across the ground, on those very rare occasions they are not in their tunnels. Plus, a mole is several times larger than this animal, and would never be lured out of the ground by bird seed. This is not a mole. On those feet, though, it's a short-tailed shrew and they ARE pretty good diggers in loose soil, and their front feet are actually a lot more robust than those of most other kinds of shrews.