Nevada mammals

Vagrant Shrew in Nevada

Sorex vagrans

Native to Nevada S4 Apparently Secure in Nevada

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

Vagrant shrew crossing bare sandy groundAI-generated image: Vagrant shrew foraging through low green ground cover. No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyAI-generated image: Vagrant shrew paused in damp leaf litter. No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy
Photo: Garth Harwood · CC BY 4.0Vagrant shrew crossing bare sandy groundAI-generated image No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyVagrant shrew foraging through low green ground coverAI-generated image No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyVagrant shrew paused in damp leaf litter

Vagrant Shrew in Nevada, by the numbers

Common in Nevada 16th most recorded of 142 mammals logged in Nevada

717 occurrence records

717 total records count every Nevada occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 669 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Vagrant Shrew in Nevada

Most sightings fall in July.

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

Monthly Nevada records (table)
MonthRecords
January1
February6
March15
April8
May31
June137
July327
August112
September8
October13
November1
December10

Monthly vagrant shrew occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Nevada.

Seasonality

Year-round in Nevada, with recorded sightings peaking in July.

Occurrence map

Where Vagrant Shrew has been recorded in Nevada

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Nevada records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Great Basin National Park 182
Toiyabe National Forest 21
High Schells Wilderness 9
Jarbidge Wilderness 2
Kingston Canyon Wildlife Management Area (Birch Creek Unit) 2
Pine Forest Range Wilderness Area 1
Humboldt National Forest 1
Mt. Rose Wilderness 1

Protected places with the most vagrant 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 Nevada

CountyRecords
White Pine County 281
Elko County 161
Lander County 152
Washoe County 45
Nye County 34
Carson City County 24
Douglas County 8
Lyon County 3
Eureka County 2
Humboldt County 2
Other localities 5

The complete county distribution, spread across 10 Nevada counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Nevada records for the vagrant shrew are anchored by Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and Great Basin National Park. They show where people have reported it, not how many animals live there.

The Nevada records bridge the state’s southern desert country and its higher central or northern ranges. That broad spread matters more than any single hotspot. The strongest reporting falls in summer, when Nevada’s high country is easiest to reach but low deserts are hottest. That may shape where observers submit records.

The file combines 0 research-grade iNaturalist records and 717 GBIF records. Those 717 records measure documented encounters, not Nevada’s population size. It’s native to Nevada. Nevada doesn’t specifically list it under the state’s conservation framework, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Vagrant shrew crossing bare sandy ground
Full species profile Vagrant Shrew Sorex vagrans Size 6.8 cm2.7 in Weight 4–8 g0.1–0.3 oz Lifespan Up to 2.1 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Nevada 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"