Wyoming mammals

Vagrant Shrew in Wyoming

Sorex vagrans

Native to Wyoming S5 Secure in Wyoming

Not listed as nonindigenous in Wyoming by USGS NAS; native to its Wyoming 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 Wyoming, by the numbers

Common in Wyoming 38th most recorded of 126 mammals logged in Wyoming

221 occurrence records

Records from 2000–2026.

221 total records count every Wyoming occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the monthly chart covers the 218 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Vagrant Shrew in Wyoming

Most sightings fall in July.

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

Monthly Wyoming records (table)
MonthRecords
January10
February1
March0
April2
May2
June21
July77
August37
September40
October18
November7
December3

Monthly vagrant shrew occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Wyoming, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

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

Occurrence map

Where Vagrant Shrew has been recorded in Wyoming

221 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

221 Wyoming records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Grand Teton National Park 23
Laramie Peak Wildlife Habitat Management Area 2
Yellowstone National Park 1
Teton National Forest 1
Bridger 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 Wyoming

CountyRecords
Teton County 64
Park County 61
Albany County 56
Lincoln County 22
Laramie County 5
Sublette County 3
Uinta County 3
Natrona County 3
Fremont County 2
Carbon County 1
Johnson County 1

The complete county distribution, spread across 11 Wyoming counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

For a tiny animal most people never notice, the vagrant shrew has left a solid paper trail in Wyoming: 221 records, concentrated in the mountainous west. Teton, Park, and Albany counties account for the bulk of reports, with Grand Teton National Park contributing more than any other single place. That pattern tracks the wet mountain meadows, stream banks, and willow bottoms this shrew needs, and it also tracks where biologists and park visitors spend their time.

Reports climb from June to a July peak and stay strong through September. Some of that is the shrews being active and breeding; a lot of it is simply field season. Small-mammal surveys run when the snow is off the ground, so a summer bulge in records is expected and shouldn’t be read as a population surge.

NatureServe ranks the vagrant shrew S5, secure, in Wyoming. The state holds plenty of the high, damp habitat it likes, from the Yellowstone River corridor down through the National Elk Refuge, and the spread of records across eleven counties backs that up.

Occurrence data from 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 Wyoming 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"