Alpine shrew

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Alpine shrew
Sorex alpinus

Sorex alpinus

Systematics
Superordinate : Laurasiatheria
Order : Insect eater (Eulipotyphla)
Family : Shrews (Soricidae)
Subfamily : Soricinae
Genre : Red-toothed shrews ( Sorex )
Type : Alpine shrew
Scientific name
Sorex alpinus
Schinz , 1837

The Alpine shrew ( Sorex alpinus ) is a mammal from the shrew family . It populates the mountains in Central and Southeastern Europe.

Mark

The head-body length is 62 to 85 mm and the tail length 54 to 75 mm. This year's animals weigh 5.2 to 7.7 g; Animals in spring after wintering 8.7 to 11.5 g. The fur is gray-black almost all over the body, only the underside of the tail and the tops of the feet are white. The tip of the trunk is pink.

distribution

The Alpine shrew is one of the few mammal species that are endemic to Europe . The spatially strongly fragmented ( disjoint ) distribution area of ​​the species includes the low and high mountains of central and southern Europe from Spain to Romania . The main distribution areas are the Alps , the Carpathians and the mountains in the northwest of the Balkan Peninsula . In the Pyrenees , the species is believed to have died out in the early 20th century. In Germany, the Alpine shrew occurs except in the Alps in the Black Forest , the Swabian Alb , the Bavarian Forest , the Fichtel Mountains , the Rhön and the Zittau Mountains , and it is probably also extinct in the Harz Mountains .

habitat

In the mountains, the Alpine shrew almost exclusively colonizes the submontane to alpine areas at altitudes between 500 and 2550 m. It reaches the highest densities in the forest on the banks of small to medium-sized streams at heights of around 1000 m. There she lives in the dense moss under stones and rhizomes. At heights below 500 m, the species occurs only in deeply cut, small stream valleys in forests. Above the tree line, dry habitats such as alpine meadows and log heaps are also populated, where it lives in crevices and under dwarf shrubs.

Way of life

The animals are diurnal and nocturnal and climb well. The diet consists mainly of arachnids , earthworms , insects low in chitin and their larvae and snails . Reproduction takes place from April to October. A female usually has three litters a year, each containing 3 to 9, usually 5 to 6 young.

Existence and endangerment

In Germany, the Alpine shrew is listed as "critically endangered" on the Red List due to its fragmented occurrence and the endangerment of its habitats from water construction and forest interventions . In Switzerland it is considered safe. The IUCN classifies the Alps shrew worldwide in 2008 as a kind of "early warning" on ( "near threatened").

swell

literature

  • Anthony J. Mitchell-Jones, Giovanni Amori, Wieslaw Bogdanowicz, Boris Krystufek, PJH Reijnders, Friederike Spitzenberger, Michael Stubbe, Johan BM Thissen, Vladimiŕ Vohralik, Jan Zima: The Atlas of European Mammals. Poyser, London, 1999, ISBN 0-85661-130-1 , pp. 40-41.
  • Erwin Stresemann (founder), Konrad Senglaub (ed.): Excursion fauna of Germany. Volume 3: Vertebrates. 12th, heavily edited edition. G. Fischer, Jena et al. 1995, ISBN 3-334-60951-0 , p. 369.

Web links

Commons : Sorex alpinus  - collection of images, videos and audio files