Lesser white-toothed shrew
Crocidura suaveolens
Tatiana Ivankina · Bessonovka
Key facts in one look
- Size
- 77–86 mm, 8.5–13.3 g
- Diet
- Insectivore
- Status in Georgia
- Native, numerous in Kolkheti
- Habitat
- Grassy scrub, by water, settlements
- Family
- Soricidae
- Conservation
- LC / LC
The lesser white-toothed shrew (Crocidura suaveolens) dominates the small mammal communities of the Kolkheti Lowland. It is a small, lightly built shrew of 8.5–13.3 g, with a long tail that reaches 65–90% of head-and-body length. It lives in grassy scrub, by water and in settlements, and often enters houses. It eats insects, snails, millipedes and other invertebrates. Both globally and in Georgia it is rated Least Concern (LC). Look closely at a 'mouse' you see indoors: it may well be this shrew.
Identification
Lesser white-toothed shrew: how to identify it
A small, lightly built shrew with a long tail. The back is smoky grey to brown, the belly pale grey, with no sharp border between them. The tail is often one colour. The bicoloured white-toothed shrew, by contrast, has a sharp line between its dark back and white belly.
In the form living in Georgia, head and body are 77–86 mm long, the tail 41–56 mm, and it weighs 8.5–13.3 g. Pregnant females weigh up to 17.5 g. Young animals are smaller: 55–74 mm and 6.3–8 g.
The tail is long, 65–90% of head-and-body length. It is often one colour, sometimes two-toned. The long tail sets it apart from short-tailed shrews.
The back is smoky grey, greyish brown or brown, the belly pale grey. The border between back and belly colour is blurred.
The bicoloured white-toothed shrew has a stocky body, a shorter tail and a sharp border between dark back and white belly. The pygmy white-toothed shrew is far smaller, weighing only 1.2–2.7 g. In size and in its soft colour border, the lesser white-toothed shrew sits between the two.
Colour
Swatches are illustrative. Do not identify a species by colour alone.
Often confused with
It is a shrew of grassy scrub, where the vegetation has not been ruined by heavy grazing. In dry areas it lives by water bodies or on irrigated land. In Georgia it is most numerous in the Kolkheti Lowland. It also lives in small settlements and often enters houses. Across most of its range, especially in dry and forested places, it is rare.
It eats insects and their larvae, snails, woodlice and millipedes, and also takes plant food. Once inside a house, it goes for stored food, even meat and fruit. Cases of it eating the carcasses of mammals and birds are known.
It is active at any time of day or night, most of all at night and at dusk. It builds its nest on the ground in tall grass and lines it with dry grass, fine hair and other soft material, like a bird's nest. In Georgia it breeds from April to October, and in the subtropical Kolkheti Lowland in winter too. A female carries 1–10 embryos, 5.5 on average. Animals born the same year breed actively as well. Like other white-toothed shrews, the young form a 'caravan': each grips the base of the tail or the rump of the one in front with its teeth, and the first holds on to the mother. Four overwintered adults caught in September were all females. This suggests that males die earlier than females at the end of the breeding season.
In Georgia the lesser white-toothed shrew is rated Least Concern (LC, 2021 national assessment), and its numbers are stable. Globally, under the name Crocidura suaveolens, it is also LC (2016). In the Kolkheti Lowland it dominates small mammal communities. Across most of its range, though, especially in dry and forested places, it is rare.
Related guides
Continue with related pages
Yes, it is a native species. It is most numerous in the Kolkheti Lowland, where it dominates the small mammals. In Georgia its numbers are assessed as stable. Many zoologists treat the Caucasian form as a separate species, Crocidura gueldenstaedtii.
By colour and tail. The lesser white-toothed shrew has a blurred border between back and belly and a long, often one-coloured tail. The bicoloured white-toothed shrew has a sharp line between dark back and white belly, and a two-toned, shorter tail.
It lives in small settlements and looks for food indoors. There it goes for stored food, even meat and fruit. It is not dangerous to people. Keep food in closed containers and let the animal out gently.
Insects and their larvae, snails, woodlice and millipedes. It also takes plant food. Indoors it goes for stored meat and fruit as well.
In Georgia and globally it is rated Least Concern (LC). In Georgia its numbers are stable. It is common in the Kolkheti Lowland but rare in dry and forested places.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
