South Dakota mammals

Prairie Shrew in South Dakota

Sorex haydeni

Native to South Dakota S5 Secure in South Dakota

Not listed as nonindigenous in South Dakota by USGS NAS; native to its South Dakota range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

AI-generated image: Prairie Shrew foraging in shortgrass prairie ground litter. No public-domain photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy.
AI-generated image No public-domain photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy.Prairie Shrew foraging in shortgrass prairie ground litter

Prairie Shrew in South Dakota, by the numbers

Common in South Dakota 15th most recorded of 100 mammals logged in South Dakota

353 occurrence records
1 with iNaturalist photos
Sep 20, 2020 Last seen in South Dakota

Records from 2000–2026.

353 total records count every South Dakota occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 347 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Prairie Shrew in South Dakota

Most sightings fall in June to July.

347 South Dakota occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly South Dakota records (table)
MonthRecords
January22
February21
March16
April64
May25
June81
July67
August20
September6
October12
November8
December5

Monthly prairie shrew occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in South Dakota, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in South Dakota, with recorded sightings peaking in June–July, with a smaller rise in April.

Occurrence map

Where Prairie Shrew has been recorded in South Dakota

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 South Dakota records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Black Elk Wilderness 21
Weiger Slough 3
Fort Sisseton 3
Gary Gulch 2
Missouri National Recreational River 2
Hartford Beach 2
Black Hills National Forest 2
Willow Dam 1

Protected places with the most prairie shrew sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in South Dakota

CountyRecords
Clay County 77
Pennington County 47
Brown County 44
Lawrence County 36
Union County 29
Custer County 22
Minnehaha County 14
McPherson County 13
Deuel County 10
Roberts County 7
Kingsbury County 7
Grant County 6
19 other counties 41

The complete county distribution, spread across 31 South Dakota counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

South Dakota is paradox country for the prairie shrew. The state’s specimen record is one of the deepest anywhere, more than 350 entries through GBIF. Yet only one of those records carries a usable date in the current set. The county-by-county and place-by-place picture is blank. NatureServe, working from fuller specimen files, ranks the species secure in the state. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern rangewide.

What can be said plainly: the prairie shrew is a documented, long-standing South Dakota resident. It’s tied to the grassland and meadow edges that still cover much of the state, from the glaciated east toward the Missouri River breaks. The recent end of the record is quiet, though. The latest dated observation is from September 2020. Fresh, dated, photo-vouchered reports are the one thing this species’ South Dakota account needs most.

Occurrence data from GBIF.

Prairie Shrew in other states

AI-generated image: Prairie Shrew foraging in shortgrass prairie ground litter. No public-domain photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy.
Full species profile Prairie Shrew Sorex haydeni Size 7–10 cm2.8–3.9 in Weight 3–6 g0.1–0.2 oz View the full profile

More mammals in South Dakota in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"