Description
The mountain spring at nearly 4000 feet elevation under a hemlock grove is the perfect habitat for the water shrew. Mr Shrew is partial to this slowly rotting hemlock tree lying across the stream. The Appalachian water shrew (Sorex palustris), often called the American or southern water shrew, is a semi-aquatic mammal found in high-elevation headwater streams in the Appalachian Mountains, including western North Carolina. It is a rare, hyper-active predator known as the "cheetah of the wetlands," consuming heavy amounts of aquatic insects daily. In the Southern Appalachians, they are restricted to isolated high-elevation habitats (usually above 3,500 feet in North Carolina and Tennessee) where cool, moist conditions prevail. This species feeds in the streams as well as along the edges, it is at home in the water, most unusual for a small mammal. They require cold, rocky mountain streams shaded by thick overhanging vegetation like rhododendron and hemlock. The species is tracked as "Significantly Rare" by the N.C. Natural Heritage Program and as a Species of Greatest Conservation.Filmed with the Campark TC22 wildlife camera available on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/4uJGSYo
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