What Are Shrew Opossums?

　　Shrew opossums are small marsupials are similar to shrews in appearance but they are actually part of the opossum group.

　　They have long, pointed snouts well-equipped with sensitive whiskers and a pair of lower incisors that project forwards. Their ears are quite large, though partly hidden by thick fur, and they have small, relatively ineffective eyes and hairy tails.

　　Fossil evidence indicates that during the Tertiary period, some 20 million years ago, there were seven genera of shrew opossums, and these were very common all over South America. The three surviving genera are now found on the western side of the Andes up to 4,300m above sea level. They hunt by night, killing insects, worms, small mammals and reptiles with their long incisor teeth.

　　The shrew opossums of South America make up a small family - the Caenolestidae - with seven species grouped into three genera. The main genus is Caenolestes with five species: the grey-bellied shrew opossum C. caniventer; the blackish shrew opossum C. convelatus; the Colombian shrew opossum C. obscurus; the Ecuadorean shrew opossum C. fuliginosus; and Tate's shrew opossum C. tatei. The other two genera contain one species each: the Peruvian shrew opossum Lestoros inca and the Chilean shrew opossum Rhyncholestes raphanurus.