Mississippi mammals

Southern Short-tailed Shrew in Mississippi

Blarina carolinensis

Native to Mississippi S5 Secure in Mississippi

Not listed as nonindigenous in Mississippi by USGS NAS; native to its Mississippi 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.

Southern short-tailed shrew walking through moss and leaf litter beside green plant shootsLive southern short-tailed shrew with dark slate-gray fur on dry grass and soilLive southern short-tailed shrew foraging on damp leaf litterLive southern short-tailed shrew walking across a dried leaf, pink nose and tiny eye visible
Photo: Nick Abbate · CC BY 4.0Southern short-tailed shrew walking through moss and leaf litter beside green plant shootsPhoto: Unknown author · Public domainLive southern short-tailed shrew with dark slate-gray fur on dry grass and soilPhoto: Greg Schechter from San Francisco, USA · CC BY 2.0Live southern short-tailed shrew foraging on damp leaf litterPhoto: Patrick Coin · CC BY-SA 2.5Live southern short-tailed shrew walking across a dried leaf, pink nose and tiny eye visible

Southern Short-tailed Shrew in Mississippi, by the numbers

Occasional in Mississippi 27th most recorded of 74 mammals logged in Mississippi

116 occurrence records
82 with iNaturalist photos
Mar 9, 2026 Last seen in Mississippi

116 total records count every Mississippi occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 113; the monthly chart covers the 113 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Southern Short-tailed Shrew in Mississippi

Most sightings fall in March.

113 Mississippi occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Mississippi records (table)
MonthRecords
January3
February13
March23
April13
May6
June6
July5
August3
September3
October12
November16
December10

Monthly southern short-tailed shrew occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Mississippi.

Seasonality

Year-round in Mississippi, with recorded sightings peaking in March, with a smaller rise in November.

Occurrence map

Where Southern Short-tailed Shrew has been recorded in Mississippi

113 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

113 Mississippi records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Bienville National Forest 6
Wall Doxey State Park 3
Lefleur's Bluff State Park 2
De Soto National Forest 1
Clarkco State Park 1
Leroy Percy Wildlife Management Area 1

Protected places with the most southern short-tailed 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 Mississippi

CountyRecords
Jackson County 12
Lauderdale County 7
Lafayette County 7
Hinds County 6
Scott County 6
Oktibbeha County 5
Jones County 5
Forrest County 5
Lamar County 4
DeSoto County 4
Rankin County 4
Marshall County 4
23 other counties 47

The complete county distribution, spread across 35 Mississippi counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Southern short-tailed shrew records in Mississippi turn up most often in the damp hardwood ravines of the state’s hill country, where thick leaf litter holds enough moisture for this shrew to tunnel through, and along the shaded maritime forest floor near the Gulf Coast.

It’s a compact, velvet-furred hunter with tiny eyes that relies on scent and touch more than sight, tunneling through leaf litter and loose soil to find insects, worms, snails, and other small prey it can quickly overpower.

Records run fairly steady across the year with upticks in spring and again in November, a pattern more likely tied to when trap lines cross its shallow tunnels than to any real seasonal shift in its underground routine.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Southern short-tailed shrew walking through moss and leaf litter beside green plant shoots
Full species profile Southern Short-tailed Shrew Blarina carolinensis Size 10.2 cm4 in Weight 20 g0.7 oz Lifespan Up to 2.8 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Mississippi 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"