Red-Toothed Shrews

(Sorex), a genus of mammals of the family Soricidae, order Insectovora. In their external appearance, red-toothed shrews slightly resemble mice but are distinguished from them by an elongated snout-like nose. Body length, 30-80 mm. The tips of their teeth are coated by a reddish-brown pigment (hence the name). Red-toothed shrews are widely distributed in the tundra, forest, and forest-steppe zones of Europe and Asia as far south as the Pamir Mountains and Mongolia, as well as all of North America and the northern part of South America. One of the smallest mammals in the world today, Sorex minutissimus, belongs to this genus; it is 38-53 mm long and weighs 1.8-2.9 g.