Records of the tundra shrew in Alaska stretch from the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in Southcentral all the way to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the North Slope, a spread that mirrors the open tundra, wet sedge meadow, and damp shrubby ground along rivers and coastline this shrew depends on statewide.
A sharp line divides its dark brown back from a pale belly, one of the clearest field marks among Alaska’s small shrews. It doesn’t need forest litter or downed logs the way some relatives do; moist ground and a steady supply of insects and worms are enough, with grasses filling in when animal prey runs short. Females can raise close to two litters a year, but few individuals survive beyond a single Alaska winter.
Reports concentrate heavily in July and August, the brief stretch when the Arctic summer peaks and field crews are most likely to be out working tundra and wet-meadow habitat. Alaska’s tundra shrew records are unusually deep and consistent for such a small, secretive animal, spanning a broad sweep of the state rather than a handful of scattered specimens.
Full species profile
