Really, really, teeny-tiny, itty-bitty eyes?
And hath not a shrew a looooooooong stretchy body?
And if you feed us, do we not om nom nom nom?
From a photo set devoted to the Northern Short-tailed Shrew by Gilles Gonthier.
Hath Not a Shrew Eyes?
December 6, 2011 By
oh my god, I’ve never seen one of these in any state but torn in half by my cat. I hadn’t realized how adorable they are :33
these pics reminded me of this thought — “CAT TOY? oh no…wait that’s not a…. EEWW BAD KITTY!”
Yep, made me think: “Shrews are on the wrong end of any nom nom nomming around here.”
My cousin had a kitty who never learned– at least a couple of times a year, Maxy would swallow a shrew (they’re bite-size), and hurk it right back up in a coat of slime.
*belch*
When we went on an all-day family trip, we dropped our dog off at a relative’s, and he killed a shrew that was eating the flower garden.
The Taming Of The Merchant Shrew Of Venice is my favorite Shakespeare play.
WIN!!!!!
Seconded!
Precious… simply precious….
And when you post them to C*O, do we not squee?!
I know that I DO
“Come, kiss me, Kate! Whooo, those whiskers tickle!”
Nomeo, oh Nomeo…
And have we not the highest basal metabolic rate evah?
The quality of cutie is not strained……………
it droppeth as the gentle rain of sunflower seeds from heaven……………………
Therefore Shrew, though justice be thy plea, consider this, that in the course of justice we must all see sunflower seeds.
Holy cow you people are talented….
I was trying to figure out what the black stuff was in the bowl in the first photo.
I was thinking maybe oysters? Then I figured out they were sunflower seeds!!!
I had no idea shrews were so tiny.
Gigi, I thought they were mussels at first, but then I realized that would have to be a pretty big shrew if they were.
Those were sunflower seeds?!?
Tempest in a Food Bowl.
Rule of Cuteness #14 in action!
Ferrets will be jealous of the stretchingks and BEF.
This might be my favorite post title ever. Verily did I lol.
Watch out, they BITE!!
Tey are also poysin.
to squeee or not to squee, that is the question
Another CO learning experience – I had NO idea that’s what a shrew looks like!
Squee!
Any other mammalogy nerds out there? I’m thinking this is a North American short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda), but would love confirmation.
I’ve always heard the common name as the Northern short-tailed shrew… Blarina brevicauda.
I totally read that as “Blarina barricuda” and though — well, he IS pretty long and toothy
Oh, and I worked at the Smithsonian NZP at one time and was told by the zoo’s pathologist that you can’t really differentiate a species of this genus from another species by much other than their teeth.
According to Wikipedia, this species is one of the very few ground species that uses sonar! Not as fancy as a bat’s, but still that’s pretty cool.
I saw a tiny little shrew in my garage once, it was smaller than a mouse (and since they’re not rodents and eat bugs, it wasn’t anything to get fussed over).
Wikipedia: Shrews hold nearly 10% of their mass in their brain, which is the highest brain to body mass ratio of all animals, including humans (2%)
That’s actually disturbing. Don’t we humans value intelligence based upon brain-size. What if…. what if…. the most intelligent creature on Earf is this sweet little tiny fluffy cat-snack? Bad kitty, indeed!
I respectfuly request a COXCU of the last pic. Hees teeny eye, hees tiny mouf! Need to get a better look at that, please!
Also, the Etruscan shrew is, together with Kitti’s Hog-nosed bat the smallest mammal in the whole wide world
I want a shrew with a short tail and a lonnnng body!
And fingernails that shine like justice…Or maybe not.
…who’s touring the burrows and picking up slack?
Longshrew is looooooooooooooooooooooong.
Damn, I knew someone had already said that
I had no idea that was what a shrew was! Or that they were that small! I thought a shrew was a bird or sumthin’….
Some of my best friends are shrewish.
I don’t know why, but now I’m picturing an all-shrew production of Spaceballs…
“I see your Shrewertz is bigger than mine!”
“Spaceshrews, the flame-thrower! Kids love this!”
If a shrew falleth on his head, does he not thunk?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gillesgonthier/6000306658/in/photostream
Just one caption and we at CO all brush up our Shakespeare, we few, we happy few, we band of cute lovers.
The cuteness has blinded many to the fact that Blarina is the genus of the only venomous mammal species in N. America. They are able to keep their prey alive (thus fresh!) by paralyzing it with their venom and taking it back to their secret lair. But the stretchy body is soooooo cute!
Sort of a Shrewelob, then?
BRINGIN’ THE NERD!
Cat people– ones with hunting cats– know about shrew poison. Shrews are NOT good snacks!
I rescued a long nosed shrew from a cat here in Wales, there were a lot of them about, (cats and long nosed shrews)
More likely you’d have to save the cat from the shrew. They are NOT good eatin’.
Huh! who knew shrew were cute?
That there’s a bit o’ rhymin’ !!!
“who knew shew …”/ “how now brown cow” …
oops “shRew” *blush*
Hath not a shrew a completely awesome ferret impression….
It’s a better ferrret than a ferret.
Sorry. Ferret. *blushes*
In re. shrew + sunflower seeds:
“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t…”
Shrew is SOOOOOO CUTE!!
It’s truly shocking how cute overload can make us think about and quote Shakespeare.
Eye of newt! Toe of frog! One cup of hedgehog! (Does that sound familiar?)
Cyoot tiny wyld lifes – luv dem!!
YepWeHaveFastMetabolismsAlright.NowExcuseMe,IMustEatEveryTwoHoursOrStarve.WeNomAlright. WeNomALot.