Posted by Dan on March 11, 2004

Q: I wanted to know if you had any idea about how far shrews will travel in search of a home range. Specifically, I wanted to know about how close or far a shrew would set up its home range compared to that where it was reared. Are we talking tens of feet or miles.

Any help appreciated.

Dan

A: You've posed some interesting questions. My guess is, and it's only a guess, that they don't move very far from their birth site. Certainly, they would travel 100 or more feet if need be but I very much doubt they would travel as much as a mile. This would make an interesting research project although probably a difficult one. Keep in mind that a shrew would only have to travel to an area not already being defended by another shrew before it could settle in. Of course, it would also need to find suitable habitat as well so if its birthplace were surrounded by many acres of appropriate habitat, its search might be much easier. It is common for many young mammals to travel large distances from their birthplace in search for unoccupied habitat. I know that Muskrats, for example, are regularly killed on highways considerable distance from their preferred habitat as they travel to find new homes. Since shrews are so small, my guess is that their travels are much more limited than larger species.

John Wiessinger ( March 12, 2004)