Wyoming has logged more water shrew records than nearly every other state that reports the species, second only to Utah, though nearly every one of the state’s 255 records comes from GBIF specimen and survey data rather than iNaturalist photos. That split makes sense for an animal that dives underwater to hunt by touch and rarely surfaces long enough for a camera.
Reports cluster tightly around cold mountain streams near Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, the National Elk Refuge, and the Yellowstone River corridor, the kind of clean, fast, well-oxygenated water this shrew needs to find the aquatic insect larvae it eats. Sightings peak sharply in July, when field surveys and stream access both pick up, not necessarily when the shrew itself is most active, since it hunts year-round beneath the water’s surface. With no formal state conservation rank on file, its status here is best read through that strong record count rather than any listing.
Full species profile
