Comments on: Why shrews are interesting

By: Douglas Kennedy DC

Douglas Kennedy DC — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 07:55:28 +0000

Do the large jaws then correlate with twig eating and NOT bracing to push dirt around with the nose/snout? Do they only use their forelimbs to tunnel and dig?

By: ppb

ppb — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:13:26 +0000

Greg, If you want shrews the size of dogs, you should see this terrifying documentary.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:51:35 +0000

Chris, yes, and thy don’t taste like chickens either! Birger, I think if shrews were the size of dogs we’d all be shrew food.

By: Birger Johansson

Birger Johansson — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:00:22 +0000

Wasn’t there a British “scientist” who used the shape of ears to “identify” criminal individuals, and also did some work that infuenced the British school system?
I seem to recall that in the seventies, after his death, it turned out the ear research was bogus. The results did not justify his conclusions.

As for human-shaped ears of tree shrews, this is no problem for creationists. When Lod created the world 4004 B.C. he used leftovers from the creation of Adam to make one additional small mammal, out of sequence with the other small mammals. He was in a hurry to get some rest, so he did not worry to much about consistency on Saturday afternoon. Likewise, he recycled the “tooth comb” idea, but having no primate teeth left, he improvised.

In regard to other creation slip-ups (the Panda’s thumb, the position of the retina behind visual obstacles) they are mostly the results of the very first experiment with grape fermentization.
— — — — —

Echolocation -can we please use GM to create hybrid carnivores that can hunt in pitch black environments, like in that film with Vin Diesel? Hybrid carnivores with the ability of newts to regenerate damaged organs, and survive being frozen solid during hibernation?
“Mortal” wounds would not stop them, and as long as one survives by burrowing into permafrost there is always the possibility of a film sequel…
I have not cracked the “acid for blood” problem yet, but I am working on it.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:21:18 +0000

Thanks for this enlightening article. You shrewdly used humor to make it a fun read. You said, “Elephant shrews don’t taste like elephants either.” Does this mean you have tasted Elephant?

By: Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 04:49:19 +0000

Elizabeth Taylor as Kate. *That* is why shrews are interesting.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 03:06:29 +0000

Darren, I didn’t know about sengis. So now I can say, “That tastes like sengis…”

OK, as far as “eek, a mouse” goes there’s lots of them in the new world. But as far as Mus goes, well, you know the story with those guys. (For those looking in, the “house mouse” is a product of the near east and is “introduced” into the New World where it lives mainly in our houses.)

Not that I should be talking to you now that you’ve abandoned me!

By: Darren Naish

Darren Naish — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 02:29:33 +0000

No mice native to the New World? Really? Naah, come on, I know you’re kidding 🙂

By the way, people are increasingly referring to elephant shrews as sengis.

By: Lou Jost

Lou Jost — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:16:52 +0000

My favorite US shrew is the water shrew. Imagine a mammal that skates above the surface of a lake, using the water’s surface tension to keep from sinking. They run in mad patterns over the water like crazy water-striders (which they are, I guess). I remember as a kid I fishing in the middle of a lake at night. I bent over the side to admire our stringer of still-live fish in the water, and came face to face with one of these unbelievable creatures investigating our fish. It skittered off into the blackness in the beam of my flashlight, right on top of the water. It was the weirdest animal I had seen up to that point of my life.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:18:27 +0000

Good question.