Colorado holds 21 documented records of the American pygmy shrew, one of the smallest mammals on the continent, clustered in just a few counties that sit far apart in elevation and character.
From high mountain meadows to a desert valley floor
Most Colorado records come from Boulder and Larimer counties, the wet high-country meadows and streamside cover around Rocky Mountain National Park, Indian Peaks, and the slopes near Mount Blue Sky. That’s a good match for what this shrew needs: moss, leaf litter, and grass roots that stay damp and cool even at elevation. A single record from Alamosa County, though, sits far south in the San Luis Valley, a high desert basin with a completely different feel, showing the species can turn up in scattered wet pockets well outside the Front Range’s high country.
A predator too small to save energy for later
At just a few grams, this shrew burns through its energy reserves fast, so it hunts in short bursts around the clock instead of picking one time of day. It works beneath moss and leaf litter for insects, spiders, and other small prey, relying on a long snout and touch more than eyesight, which is part of why it’s so rarely seen even where it’s genuinely present.
Status in Colorado
Colorado’s database treats this shrew as native across its mapped range in the state, and no NatureServe rank has been logged for it here.
Full species profile
