Do All Shrews Live Underground?

True shrews live in burrows in the ground, in holes among the roots of trees and in the spaces between rocks or in hollow logs. Some shrews are semi-aquatic and live in sheltered places near to rivers and streams. European common shrews live in woodland, hedgerows, fields and other areas with dense vegetation, where they can hide effectively from predators.

Shrews have a great appetite for food and eat several times their own body weight every day of their lives. They prey on all kinds of small animals including insects, spiders, woodlice, snails and earthworms.

One of the most unusual of all shrews is the armoured shrew that lives under fallen leaves and in rotting wood in the Central African woodlands. This shrew has a specially strengthened backbone that can withstand its being crushed by a large animal. It has probably evolved this spinal structure because only shrews that could withstand being trod on by the large herbivores that browse in the woods have survived to breed.