Buena Vista Lake Shrew - Species Account - Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office printable pdf download

Buena Vista Lake Shrew - Species Account - Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office

Species Account

BUENA VISTA LAKE SHREW

Sorex ornatus relictus

CLASSIFICATION: Endangered

Federal Register 67:10101; March 6, 2002

CRITICAL HABITAT:

Designated Federal Register 78:39835; July 02, 2014

RECOVERY PLAN: Final

Recovery plan for the upland species of the San Joaquin Valley, California, September 30. 1998

DESCRIPTION

The Buena Vista Lake shrew is one of nine subspecies of ornate shrew (Sorex ornatus), seven of which occur

in California. Ornate shrews are primarily insectivorous (insect-eating) mammals that are the approximate

size of a mouse. Shrews make up the family Soricidae.

Shrews have a long snout, tiny bead-like eyes, ears that are concealed, or nearly concealed, by soft fur, and

five toes on each foot. They are active day or night. When they are not sleeping, they are searching for food,

namely insects and other small invertebrates. Shrews eat more than their own weight each day to avoid

starvation and maintain their body weight at high rates of metabolism. The specific feeding and foraging

habits of the Buena Vista Lake shrew are unknown.

The Buena Vista Lake shrew's back is predominantly black with a buffy-brown speckling pattern, its sides are

more buffy-brown than the upper surface, and its underside is smoke-gray. The tail is faintly bicolor and

blackens toward the end both above and below. The Buena Vista Lake shrew grows to around 4 inches in total

length, including a tail of about 1.5 inch. Adults weigh 0.14-0.27 ounce.

Little is known about the reproduction or demography of this subspecies. It lives in dense vegetation around the

perimeter of marshes, lakes or sloughs. The breeding season may begin in autumn and end in May or June. Up

to two litters of four to six young are produced per year.

DISTRIBUTION

The Buena Vista Lake shrew historically occupied the marshlands of the Tulare Basin in the southern San

Joaquin Valley. Its range has become fragmented and restricted due to the loss of lakes and marshlands in the

area. It is currently known from eight locations

in Kings, Tulare, and Kern Counties, from Lemoore in the

north, to south of Bakersfield.

Buena Vista Lake Shrew - Species Account - Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office