Preble’s shrew is the smallest shrew in North America, weighing about as much as a couple of paperclips, and it survives by hiding in small damp pockets, sagebrush cover, bunchgrass, streamside plants, tucked into an otherwise dry landscape. That makes it one of the easiest mammals in New Mexico to miss entirely.
Nine of the state’s 10 confirmed records fall in August and September, with eight in September alone. That’s a striking cluster for such a small sample, though it more likely reflects when small-mammal trapping surveys happened to run than any real late-summer surge in the shrew itself.
New Mexico’s rank of S1, Critically Imperiled, matches that thin record. This tiny insect hunter is genuinely hard to find here, not just underreported.
Full species profile
