Northern Short-tailed Shrew - Predation

Predation

The northern short-tailed shrew has a high mortality rate, though it attempts to escape predation by remaining hidden under vegetation, soil, leaf litter, or snow; only 6% of a marked group of shrews survived to the next year, and winter mortality of 90% has been recorded, probably due to cold stress. This shrew is consumed by many predators: snakes, raptors, canids, cats, mustelids, skunks, raccoons, and opossums, though mammalian carnivores appear to be deterred by the musky odor produced by the shrew's scent glands.