Merriam’s shrew breaks the usual shrew pattern: instead of damp streamside cover, it lives in dry sagebrush and grassland, slipping through burrow runways left by voles and pocket gophers rather than digging its own. The Colorado Plateau country around Grand Canyon National Park, Coconino National Forest, and Kaibab National Forest gives it exactly that open, semi-arid ground.
Arizona’s most recent confirmed record for this species dates back to 2017, a sign of how easily a shrew this small and secretive goes undetected even where it’s genuinely present, since it stays active hunting insects nearly around the clock rather than settling into a single daily pattern that would make it easier to catch on camera.
Full species profile
