This is one of North Carolina’s most consistently recorded small mammals, and reports come in from the full sweep of the state, from the spruce-fir forest floor of the Great Smoky Mountains to Piedmont woodland at Uwharrie and the maritime forest behind Cape Hatteras. Few species in this atlas show that kind of records spread across three such different physiographic regions.
It spends most of its life just under the leaf litter, tunneling through loose soil and moss to hunt insects, worms, and other small invertebrates almost constantly. A mildly toxic bite helps it subdue prey larger than what most shrews can handle, a trait that sets it apart from smaller shrew species sharing the same forest floor.
Records show up in every season with no sharp peak, which fits an animal that stays active underground year-round rather than emerging on a predictable schedule. Its wide distribution across mountain, Piedmont, and coastal habitat alike is part of why it ranks among the more frequently recorded shrews anywhere in the state.
