Pygmy Shrews
In Redwall
- Alignment: Good
- Nicknames: None
- Appearance: Pygmy shrews are, if anything, even tinier than normal
shrews. Each adult looks about the size of a dibbun. For this
reason, they always fight in large numbers.
- Habitat: Pygmy shrews rarely interact with other creatures- they
live in huge tribes of their own kind and are mostly hostile towards
intruders.
- Typical Personality: Pygmies are fierce and argumentative- in that
respect they are similar to their larger cousins. They are very
protective of "squidjees," their children. They are also,
however, a bit childish - they fight over very little things. They are
as a whole quite primitive.
- Habits: Pygmies always talk extremely fast and their words often
run together. They tend to leave out articles and the like when they
speak. Perhaps because of their small size they have a fast metabolism.
Outside Redwall
- Classification: Order: Insectivora; Family: Soricidae; Species: Sorex
hoyi
- Other Names: pygmy shrew
- Appearance: Pygmy shrews are very small - 2 to 4
grams. They are about 80-91mm long- that's 8 to 9 centimeters
including the 27-32mm tail. They have a narrow head and pointed,
mobile nose, with lots of sensitive whiskers. Pygmies are gray-brown
in the summer and gray in the winter.
- Life Span: Most wild pygmies live from 2 - 4 months, while the
longest they can live is 13 months.
- Diet: Pygmies eat mostly insects, such as ants, flies, earthworms,
beetles, grubs, and caterpillars. They also eat spiders. Captive
pygmies have eaten masked shrews, red-backed voles and white-footed
mice. Shrews have to eat 125% of their body weight each day.
- Habitat: Pygmies are good diggers, and usually dig in soft soil
like leaf mold. They also use abandoned burrows made by other
creatures. Most live in coniferous and deciduous forests, swamps,
grassy clearings, bogs and floodplains.
- Typical Personality: Pygmies are aggressive. Captive ones
have been known to attack and kill each other. They are very
territorial and quite solitary.
- Habits: When frightened or agitated, pygmies produce a musky odor
from their flank glands.
- Life Cycle: Females produce one litter of 3 - 8 pygmies a year,
usually some time in the fall.
- Sites for Further Research: