Search Field Guide
Advanced Search
Montana Animal Field Guide

Montana Field Guides

Dusky or Montane Shrew - Sorex monticolus

  • Dusky Shrew
Google for more images Google for web pages

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: S5

Agency Status
USFWS: none
USFS: none
BLM: none
CFWCS Tier: 3
 

General Description
Pacific coast: pelage gray brown; median tine on anteriomedial edge of I1 usually large and robust; tail indistinctly bicolored; 5 or 6 pairs of friction pads on second to fourth digits of hind feet; level of pigmentation above level of median tine on I1; body size small to medium; U5 triangular, body of U1s not touching, P4 overlapping U5; zygomatic process of maxillary pointed (Carraway 1990).

Diagnostic Characteristics
See carraway (1995) for a key to western north american soricids based primarily on dentaries.

General Distribution
Montana Range



Western Hemisphere Range

 


Summary of Observations Submitted for Montana
Number of Observations: 212

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Records associated with a range of dates are excluded from time charts)



Migration
Non-migratory.

Habitat
In western Montana, high altitude spruce-fir forest, alpine tundra. Also as low as 3000 ft. in mid-altitude forests. Occurs along streams and rivers east of Continental Divide and in isolated mountain ranges in central Montana. (Hennings and Hoffmann 1977).

Food Habits
Similar to other long-tailed shrews: eats mostly invertebrates (van Zyll de Jong 1983).

Ecology
Non-breeders territorial. Breeders apparently not territorial (van Zyll de Jong 1983).

Reproductive Characteristics
First-year animals may not be reproductively active (van Zyll de Jong 1983).

Citations & Sources
Login Logout
Citation for data on this website:
Dusky or Montane Shrew — Sorex monticolus.  Montana Field Guide.  Retrieved on February 9, 2010, from http://FieldGuide.mt.gov/detail_AMABA01080.aspx
 
There are currently 40 active users in the Montana Field Guide.