Northern Short-tailed Shrew Skull

Description

Northern Short-tailed Shrew Skull Replica measures 1.0 inch. Northern Short-tailed Shrew skull is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Cast from a private collection. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home décor skull, or office décor skull.

Blarina brevicauda is from the North America forest grasslands. Northern Short-tailed Shrews are small, mostly insectivorous mammals that comprise about 6.5 percent of all mammal species.

The Northern short-tailed shrew or Blarina brevicauda is the largest shrew in the genus Blarina, and occurs in the northeastern region of North America.

It is highly active, and voracious insectivore and is present in a variety of habitats like broad leaved and pine forests among shrubs and hedges as well as grassy river banks. It is notable in that it is one of the few venomous mammals.

The Northern short-tailed shrew or Blarina brevicauda has a total length of 4.3 to 5.5 in., of which 0.71 to 1.26 in. is tail; and weighs 0.53 to 1.06 oz. The dorsal fur is thick and velvety, and can be black, brownish black, or silvery gray, with the ventral fur being a bit lighter and grayer.

The Northern short-tailed shrew or Blarina brevicauda molts from a summer coat which is shorter and paler than the winter pelage in October and November, and back again sometime in February through July.

Northern short-tailed shrew or Blarina brevicauda consumes up to three times its weight in food each day. It eats small quantities of subterranean fungi and seeds, though it is mostly carnivorous. It prefers insects, earthworms, voles, snails, and other shrews for the bulk of its diet, though salamanders and mice are also eaten.

The saliva of the Northern Short-tailed shrew or Blarina brevicauda contains a kallikrein-like protease, used to paralyze and subdue its prey.

The toxin is strong enough to kill small animals, up to sizes somewhat larger than the shrew itself, and results in painful bites to humans who attempt to handle the shrew.

The venomous saliva is secreted from submaxillary glands, through a duct which opens at the base of the lower incisors, where the saliva flows along the groove formed by the two incisors, and into the prey.

Northern Short-Tailed Shrew:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eulipotyphla
Family: Soricidae
Genus: Blarina
Species: B. brevicauda
Binomial name: Blarina brevicauda
Conservation status: Least concern

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