Behavior
This tiny shrew is active at all hours of the day, but mostly at night. Hunting by smell and touch, the North American least shrew digs through loose soil and leaf litter for its prey along the surface of the ground. The behavior of captive individuals suggests it can also tunnel through moist soil in search of food much like moles do. However, it mostly occupies burrows built by other mammals.
Its diet consists of mostly small insects, such as caterpillars, beetle larvae, earthworms, centipedes, slugs, and sow bugs. It will also eat from the corpses of dead animals, and small amounts of seeds or fruits. This shrew will eat its prey whole, but when eating crickets and grasshoppers, the North American least shrew will bite off the head of its prey and eat only the internal organs. When fighting a larger creature, it will aim for the legs and try to cripple its adversary, and will bite lizards, which are often too large for it to kill, on the tail, which then falls off and provides it with a meal while the lizard escapes. The North American least shrew will also sometimes live inside beehives and eat all the larvae. It will often share its food with other shrews. It eats more than its body weight each day and is known to store excessive amounts of food for later.
The North American least shrew makes its home in burrows or shallow runways under flat stones or fallen logs. Its burrows are about 2.5 cm in diameter, from 25 cm to 1.5 m long, and seldom more than 20 cm below the ground. Most shrews are aggressive towards each other, but this species is a social creature and often cooperates in digging its burrows and often sleeps with other shrews. From 2 to 31 of these shrews will live together at a time, although it is more common to find them together in the winter months to keep warm. It will line its burrows with leaves and grass in nests for the purpose of rearing offspring. The breeding season extends from early March to late November. Females produce two or more litters each season. Each litter will consist of about three to six young, each one weighing about 0.3 g, which grow quickly and will be adult size in about one month. Litters are born 21–23 days after copulation. When first born, young are deaf, blind, and hairless. At 14 days old, they will open their eyes and have fur. By day 21, they will weigh 4-5 g and weaning will begin. The North American least shrew rarely lives more than a year. Its natural predators are owls, hawks, the red fox, the raccoon, skunks, and snakes. The North American Least Shrew will try to defend itself with its venomous saliva.
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