When disturbed from the nest, young common shrews will sometimes follow their mother in a caravan fashion, using their mouths to hold on to the tail of the sibling in front. They are the second most common British mammal.

Life span
Up to 23 months.

Statistics
Body length: 55-82mm, Weight: 5-12g.

Physical description
Common shrews have silky dark brown fur, with a pale underside and light brown flanks. The teeth are red-tipped. Shrews have pointed, mobile snouts and small eyes.

Distribution
Common shrews range across Britain, Scandinavia and eastern Europe. They are replaced by the French shrew in Jersey.

Habitat
They are abundant in woodland, grassland and hedgerows.

Diet
Common shrews are insectivorous and carnivorous, feeding on insects, slugs, spiders, worms and carrion. They need to eat 80-90 per cent of their own body weight in food daily.

Behaviour
Except for when rearing young, shrews are solitary and are extremely aggressive towards each other. They have home ranges, which vary in size from 370-630 square metres and which usually last the shrew's lifetime. Males extend their ranges during the breeding season, in their search for females.

They are active both day and night (but mostly at night), and rest for only a few minutes between bouts of activity.

On meeting strangers of the same sex, shrews will momentarily freeze, and then squeak loudly and rear onto their hind legs. They may then chase each other, resulting in a scuffle where they aim bites and kicks at each other.

They build nests below the ground or under dense vegetation. Shrews have a good sense of smell and hearing, but their eyesight is poor. They locate prey hidden up to 12cm deep in soil, by probing and sniffing with their snout.

Reproduction
After a gestation period of 24-25 days, females give birth to 1-10 young (typically six). The breeding season lasts from April to September, but peaks in the summer. The females rear 2-4 litters a year with no help from the males. The young are weaned after 22-25 days, after which they are fully independent of their mothers.

Conservation status
Common shrews are not considered to be endangered. Their main predators are owls, but they are also hunted by weasels, stoats and foxes. Domestic cats often kill shrews but they are apparently distasteful to them and are rarely eaten. British shrews are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and it is an offence to kill them without a special licence.