AnAge entry for Blarina brevicauda
Classification (HAGRID: 03211)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Soricomorpha
Family: Soricidae
Genus: Blarina
- Species
- Blarina brevicauda
- Common name
- Northern short-tailed shrew
- Synonyms
- Blarina telmalestes
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- 2.2 years (captivity)
- Source
- ref. 671
- Sample size
- Small
- Data quality
- Acceptable
- Observations
In the wild, these animals have been estimated to live up to 2.5 years [0542], which could be overestimated. In captivity, they do not appear to live more than 2.2 years [0671], though some anecdotes indicate a longer lifespan.
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 46 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 65 days
- Gestation
- 17 days
- Weaning
- 23 days
- Litter size
- 6 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- 3
- Inter-litter interval
- Weight at birth
- 1.34 g
- Weight at weaning
- Adult weight
- 21.6 g
- Postnatal growth rate
- 0.188 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
- Maximum longevity residual
- 28%
Metabolism
- Typical body temperature
- Not yet available
- Basal metabolic rate
- 0.3440 W
- Body mass
- 20.9 g
- Metabolic rate per body mass
- 0.016459 W/g
References
- [1143] Nussey et al. (2013), Senescence in natural populations of animals: widespread evidence and its implications for bio-gerontology (PubMed)
- [0922] Hindle et al. (2010), Muscle aging and oxidative stress in wild-caught shrews (PubMed)
- [0903] Hindle et al. (2009), Muscle senescence in short-lived wild mammals, the soricine shrews Blarina brevicauda and Sorex palustris (PubMed)
- [0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
- [0178] Brunet Rossinni (2004), Testing the free radical theory of aging in bats (PubMed)
- [0074] Brunet-Rossinni (2004), Reduced free-radical production and extreme longevity in the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) versus two non-flying mammals (PubMed)
- [0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
- [0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [0678] Symonds (1999), Life histories of the Insectivora: the role of phylogeny, metabolism, and sex differences
- [0538] Don Wilson and Sue Ruff (1999), The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals
- [0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
- [0542] Bernhard Grzimek (1990), Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals
- [0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
- [0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 179967
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account (if available)
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Taxonomy ID 9387
- Entrez
- Search all databases
- Ageing Literature
- Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
- Images
- Google Image search
- Internet
- Search Google