Insectivorous mammals are signs of the order. Insectivores: photos and names, characteristics, interesting facts

Distinctive features of Insectivores

This squad includes completely different appearance and the lifestyle of animals living on all continents except Australia. Usually they do not evoke any sympathy among people. And, by the way, in vain! Almost all of them bring benefits by destroying great amount harmful insects. Insectivores- animals are very ancient, their ancestors lived on our planet already 135 million years ago, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. According to modern data, there are about 400 species in the order, and this is the third largest order of mammals (after rodents and chiropterans). Some features allow us to consider insectivores as the most primitive of placental mammals - first of all, their small size, simply constructed limbs and teeth. They do not chew or grind food, but only bite and crush it - therefore they are quite “satisfied” with small, almost identical and very sharp teeth. The snout of insectivores is elongated and usually ends in a small proboscis; the eyes and external auricles are small, and in some they are greatly reduced. Their fur is short and soft, the body of some is covered with spines, the brain is very small and has practically no grooves or convolutions. Insectivores are terrestrial, underground, semi-aquatic or even wood image life. Seeing them is not easy because most are active at night. As the name implies, these animals feed mainly on insects, but some are true predators. Insectivores are characterized by an extremely high level of metabolism and an associated extraordinary gluttony: small shrews eat twice their weight per day and can live without food for only a few hours. One more distinctive feature The animals of this order are characterized by their amazing fertility: females can give birth to up to 15 cubs.

Hedgehog Family Erinaceidae

Jerzy- the most ancient and primitive family of the order. People have known them for a very long time; even in ancient times, combs for sheep wool were made from dried hedgehog skins stretched onto planks. As a result, there were so few hedgehogs that the Senate Ancient Rome even issued a decree on their protection. Science knows at least 30 species of hedgehogs, and it turns out that not all of them are similar to the familiar prickly inhabitant of forests and parks. There are also completely different, primitive hedgehogs in nature, covered with hair, not needles, and resembling rodents in their appearance. And yet the most famous feature hedgehogs - their ability to curl up into a ball when in danger, exposing their prickly back to a potential enemy and hiding their unprotected muzzle and abdomen. (And the hedgehog has a lot of needles - 6-7 thousand!) Interestingly, some hedgehogs enhance the effect of their spines by lubricating them with a poisonous liquid. To do this, they catch toads, bite through their parotid glands and lubricate them with needle secretions. When injected with such “poisoned arrows,” a strong burning sensation occurs that does not go away for several hours.

Hedgehogs have very sensitive hearing and an excellent sense of smell, allowing them to sense prey several meters underground. But their vision is weak, but it is not so important for a nocturnal animal. In winter, hedgehogs sleep in a den made of grass, leaves and moss. During this period, their body temperature drops to 2-3 degrees, and their breathing rate drops to 6-8 times per minute. All winter they eat nothing and live off the fat reserves accumulated since the fall: before hibernation, hedgehogs weigh 700-950 g, in the spring no more than 350 g. For the offspring of a hedgehog, he also builds a special den, where he gives birth to 5-6 (sometimes from 3 to 10) hedge. Newborns are blind, deaf and hairless, but after a few hours they develop soft white needles. They grow very quickly, darken, and within two weeks they become the same as those of adults. Hedgehogs feed mainly on various invertebrates (spiders, slugs, worms, insects), but they do not refuse mice, frogs and chicks. They also eat berries, fruits and plant seeds. The hedgehog eats a lot and during the night eats as much as it weighs.

Family Shrews Soricidae

The largest family of the order is shrews. (Some modern taxonomists distinguish this family from the order Insectivores and assign it the status of a separate order Shrews Soricomorpha.) There are more than 300 species (25 live in Russia alone), and scientists still continue to describe more and more new ones. Due to the strong smell of shrews, many predators do not eat them, and perhaps that is why people have long attributed to them many magical and medicinal properties, and at the same time they were terribly afraid of them.

Shrews- the smallest among insectivores, and the dwarf shrew - in general among all mammals (its weight is 1.5 g and body length is 3.5 cm). Externally, shrews are similar to mice, but differ in their large heads, the facial part of which is extended into a proboscis. They live in a wide variety of landscapes - from the tundra to tropical forests and deserts, they also rise into the mountains to a height of 4500 m. Their movements are agile and easy, they can run quickly on the ground, make moves in the forest floor, jump quite high, and, if necessary, swim. Shrews feed on various invertebrates, but also attack small vertebrates: frogs, lizards, young rodents, “showing courage, bloodthirstiness and ferocity that is not at all consistent with their insignificant size” (as A. Brem writes). Shrews eat twice their weight in food every day. High level metabolism forces them to be active around the clock and prevents them from hibernating. Shrews live a short life, no more than 2 years, but they are very fertile, having 2-3 litters of 4-14 cubs each year.

Mole family Talpidae

IN the Mole family, which includes about 20 species, in addition to the underground inhabitants familiar to us, there are also terrestrial primitive forms that look like shrews, and there are also semi-aquatic ones. The common mole is widespread in Europe and Asia. It is not easy to see it, but it is easy to find out about its presence - by small piles of earth (molehills). Everything about this small animal is adapted for living in the ground: its body is streamlined and covered with thick, short, velvety hair, consisting almost entirely of undercoat. This fur allows the mole to move with equal ease in narrow passages with both its head and its tail forward. True, because constant friction on the ground, the fur wears out quickly, so unlike other animals, the mole sheds 3-4 times a year. The mole's ears and eyes are very small and covered with folds of skin. But the most amazing thing, of course, is its forelimbs: powerful, short, shovel-like, with strong claws and inverted palms, they are excellent digging tools. The mole finds its food (earthworms, insects and their larvae, mollusks and other invertebrates) with the help of developed sense of smell and hearing. During the day, he digs about 20 meters of new underground passages, and their total length is tens of kilometers. Summer residents, of course, are not very happy with the activities of moles, but scientists believe that these animals bring considerable benefits, and not only by destroying harmful insects. The fact is that the soil that moles bring from the depths is very fertile, since it is much richer in minerals than the surface layers of the soil.

The widespread use of beautiful and durable mole fur began relatively recently, in late XIX century. Until now, in the fur trade of our country, the extraction of mole skins is in sixth place (and in the European part and in the Urals even in first place!). All over the world, up to 20 million mole skins are harvested per year.

IN North America lives a mole of a completely unusual appearance. This is a star snout - a fairly large animal up to 20 cm long. At the end of its muzzle there is an oval disk, from which 22 fleshy, thin processes extend as rays - with them the star snout probes and captures prey. These moles not only dig holes in the ground, but also swim and dive beautifully.

Muskrat Desmana moschata

Even more connected with the water element muskrat. This ancient animal (according to scientists - a contemporary of the mammoth) reaches a length of 20 cm. It has a 20-centimeter tail flattened laterally, webbed feet and a long movable proboscis. This magnificent swimmer and diver spends time in the water most life and inhabits water bodies with slow flow and dense vegetation along the banks. True, the muskrat makes holes on the shore, but the exit from them is located under water. The burrow has 2-3 living chambers, since the animals often live in families. In addition to the main burrow, there are also feeding burrows, where the muskrat stores food. It feeds on leeches, worms, mollusks, water spiders and insects. It does not chase its prey, but stirs up the bottom silt with its proboscis and front paws, and then catches the disturbed living creatures. The Russian muskrat was once widespread in the Volga, Don, Dnieper and Ural basins, but has now become very rare and is listed in the IUCN and Russian Red Books. Unfortunately, for a long time this unique animal was subjected to mass destruction because of its valuable fur. It’s hard to imagine now, but in 1913 alone, 60 thousand muskrat skins were sold at the Nizhny Novgorod fair.

Insectivores are the most ancient and primitive group of placental mammals. These are small (from 3 to 40 cm) animals with an elongated head. The body is covered with thick hair or bristles, and in hedgehogs - with spines. Dental system poorly differentiated, incisors, canines and molars practically do not differ from each other. The brain is poorly developed (with the exception of the olfactory region), there are no convolutions. Some insectivores breed three times a year, producing litters of 25 young.

There are 9 families of insectivores: slit-toothed, tenrecs, otter shrews, golden moles, hedgehogs, jumpers, shrews, moles, muskrats. Prygunchikovs are now often classified as a separate order. Over 400 species in Eurasia, Africa and North America, from the North coast Arctic Ocean to the deserts. Conducted by land, underground or semi-aquatic, mainly night look life.

Insectivores destroy harmful insects. Muskrats and moles are objects of the fur trade. The numbers of some species are declining and are under protection.

Insectivores. Top row, from left to right: Haitian snaptooth, common tenrec, Grant's golden mole. Bottom row, from left to right: common hedgehog, long-eared hedgehog, short-eared elephant jumper

Insectivores. Top row - shrews, from left to right: small shrew, little shrew, common shrew. Bottom row: European mole, star-nosed mole, muskrat

Philippine Woolwing

Insectivores:

• 1 - slit tooth;
• 2 - tenrec;
• 3 - otter shrew;
• 4 - Cape golden mole;
• 5 - jumper;
• 6 - common shrew;
• 7 - European mole;
• 8 - muskrat;
• 9 - common hedgehog.

Lecture added 02/28/2013 at 17:52:17

Characteristics of the squad. In the building the most important organs insectivores retained the primitive features of ancient mammals. Thus, insectivores have sharply cusped teeth, which can hardly be divided into groups. The large hemispheres of the brain are small and smooth, almost without convolutions.

Hedgehog. The hedgehog's body is covered on top with numerous spines - modified hair, and on the ventral side - with fur. The hedgehog's legs are short, its movements are slow, and when in danger it curls up into a ball.

The hedgehog is nocturnal; its small eyes play a secondary role when searching for food. But his hearing and sense of smell are well developed. The hedgehog's main food is numerous insects, which it searches for on the soil, in last year's fallen leaves and dead wood. By exterminating harmful insects, the hedgehog brings benefits. In addition to insects, it eats earthworms, frogs, can eat a mouse or destroy bird eggs. A hedgehog can cope with a viper, whose venom, when bitten, has a weaker effect on him than on other animals.

With the onset of winter, hedgehogs hide in a pre-arranged shelter, where they fall into deep hibernation. The hedgehog's body temperature drops, it rarely breathes, the heart works slowly and weakly - the entire body of the animal is in a deep stupor until the onset of the warm season. The prolonged sleep of the hedgehog and some other animals is associated with a lack of usual food. Hibernation allows the animal to endure unfavourable conditions environment.

Common mole. Life common mole takes place in the ground in dug holes. There are especially many moles in forest and forest-steppe zones, where they are found in meadows, fields, along forest edges, in gardens and vegetable gardens. Everyone has seen in the meadows clearly visible emissions of earth from the underground galleries of the mole - molehills. The mole digs the soil with its strong forelimbs - they are short, but with a large, wide brush armed with powerful claws. With such a paw, like a shovel, the mole loosens the earth and throws it back.

The entire body of the mole is adapted to life in burrows and digging - it is dense, cylindrical in shape, the head is devoid of auricles, and the neck is almost invisible. Due to the constant darkness in the hole, the mole's eyes are underdeveloped, their size is the size of a pinhead. The animal finds food using its well-developed sense of smell and touch.

The mole's hair is short and velvety. As the mole moves forward in the hole, the undercoat fits tightly to its body and protects the animal’s skin from soil and moisture getting into it. When the mole backs away, the undercoat easily folds back in the opposite direction.

The mole is active all year round. He constantly bypasses dug in different directions burrows several hundred meters long and eats earthworms, insects and their larvae that get there. When food becomes scarce, the mole digs new tunnels. Moles are hunted for their beautiful fur.

Shrews. Externally, shrews are similar to mice, but differ from them in small eyes and an elongated head with a proboscis. Among the shrews, the common shrew is numerous and widely distributed. Its small body, up to 10 cm long, is covered with grayish-brown fur. The shrew lives in a variety of landscapes - from tundra to steppes and deserts, but is most often found in forests and meadows.

Despite its short legs, the shrew runs quickly and deftly. With great mobility, the animal requires a lot of food. The great gluttony of shrews is known: the common shrew eats 1.5-2 times food per day more weight of its body, and the little shrew (the smallest animal among mammals) - even more, 4 times.

Shrews cannot provide themselves with this amount of food at one time, so they are active around the clock in all seasons. Having had their fill, the animals a short time They rest, but as soon as the food is digested, they go out in search of new food. Shrews search for prey, mainly insects, on the ground, among the forest floor, under the snow and in other places that are inaccessible to insectivorous birds.

All shrews benefit by eating insects in large quantities.

Insectivores (Insectivora) are predominantly small and very small animals. The majority have a wedge-shaped head, with an elongated proboscis-shaped nose. The body of most animals is covered with smooth, thick, velvety fur, while a few have coarse bristly hair or short spines. Limbs are designed differently depending on lifestyle. Many insectivores are characterized by odorous (musk) glands.

Insectivores lead a terrestrial (hedgehogs, shrews), underground (moles) or semi-aquatic and aquatic (otter shrews, shrews, muskrats) lifestyle. These are mainly nocturnal animals. Burrows, sometimes very complex ones, serve as refuge for many; small forest terrestrial species live on the forest floor.

Insectivores: photos and names, characteristics, interesting facts

Active all year round, only some representatives of the hedgehog family hibernate for the winter. They breed up to 3 times a year, with litters ranging from 1 to 25 cubs.

The dental system is primitive. The number of teeth is from 44 to 26. A set of 44 teeth is considered the initial (most primitive) for higher animals. The premolar teeth of insectivores are clearly divided into two categories by structure - small premolars and large, or large, premolars. Representatives of different genera and families have different numbers of small preradicals, so they have great importance in taxonomy, and large premolars only one on each side in the upper and lower jaws. Large molars are adjacent to small molars, and are always larger in size than small molars: and have 2 or 3 roots, often with several sharp peaks. On the molars, cutting ridges (commissures) pass between the sharp apices, forming a pattern similar to the letter W or V. Teeth of this structure are called insectivorous teeth.

The brain of insectivores has a relatively large olfactory region, and the size of the hemispheres is small, many without grooves and do not cover the cerebellum on top. Of the sense organs, the organs of smell and touch reach the greatest development. The organs of vision in almost all are poorly developed; in some, the eyes are completely hidden under the skin. Due to the poor development of the brain, conditioned reflexes are developed slowly and quickly lost (faded).

Insectivores are distributed almost throughout the world with the exception of Antarctica, Australia and most South America. To the north they go to the shores and big islands The Arctic Ocean, in the mountains rise almost to the lower edge of snowfields and glaciers.

Insectivores are one of the oldest groups of higher animals. Their fossil remains are known from Upper Cretaceous deposits Mesozoic era. The time that has passed from then to the present day is about 135 million years. Their origin is associated with the Jurassic animal-like creatures of the subclass of pantotheriums, the order of trituberculates.

Characteristics of insectivores

There are eight families and 374 species. Insectivores, in general, live where there are no marsupials: on all continents and many islands, except Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, New Zealand and South America (with the exception of its small areas in the northwestern corner of this continent). In the Arctic there are no insectivores either.
Insectivores are small animals, but they have a long zoological history. One hundred million years ago, in the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs were still crushing horsetails with the unprecedented power of their soles, insectivores were already living in the trampled greenery under the feet of giant lizards. From those ancient nimble animals came all the animals: cats and dogs, deer and hares, semi-monkeys and monkeys, and from monkeys - humans. Only marsupials descend from a genetically close, but different root - the tritubercular marsupials, also insectivores, judging by their usual food. The ancestors of modern insectivores were tricodonts. So the development paths of cloacal marsupials and non-marsupial higher animals diverged a long time ago, probably 150 million years ago.
And now insectivores still have teeth almost the same as they were a long time ago - tuberous, similar to one another: they, one might say, have no fangs, incisors and molars. The brain is also primitive - without convolutions, smooth. The cerebral hemispheres are small: they do not cover the cerebellum.

Close to insectivores are woolly wings, two species of which live in the forests of the Philippines, Indochina and the Malay Archipelago. All their limbs and tail are connected by a membrane covered with hair, with the help of which they can glide from tree to tree.

Shrew. Photo: Gilles Gonthier

The limbs of insectivores are four- or five-fingered, plantigrade, all fingers are armed with claws. The hairline is usually short, soft, poorly differentiated; sometimes the body is covered with spines. The skin contains sebaceous, primitive sweat and specific glands. Nipples from 2 to 12. Number of teeth from 44 to 26. A set of 44 teeth is considered the original (most primitive) for higher animals. The premolar teeth of insectivores are clearly divided into two categories by structure - small premolars and large, or large, premolars. Representatives of different genera and families have a different number of small premolars, so they are of great importance in taxonomy, while large premolars have only one on each side in the upper and lower jaws. Large molars are adjacent to small molars, and are always larger in size than small molars: and have 2 or 3 roots, often with several sharp peaks. On the molars, cutting ridges (commissures) pass between the sharp apices, forming a pattern similar to the letter W or V. Teeth of this structure are called insectivorous teeth. The brain of insectivores has a relatively large olfactory region, and the size of the hemispheres is small, many without grooves and do not cover the cerebellum on top. Of the sense organs, the organs of smell and touch reach the greatest development. The organs of vision in almost all are poorly developed; in some, the eyes are completely hidden under the skin.

They lead a terrestrial, underground, semi-aquatic or arboreal lifestyle.

Order Insectivores

Most of them are active at night; Some have 24/7. They feed mainly on insects, although there are also predators among them. Insectivores are polygamous. Pregnancy 11-43 days. There is usually one litter per year, rarely more. There are up to 14 cubs in a litter. Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 3-4 months to two years. Economic importance relatively small. A number of species benefit forest and agriculture by eating harmful insects. Some species (mole) are of commercial importance.

The smallest mammal on Earth, the shrew (a small shrew the size of a little finger, its body length is 34-48 millimeters plus a 22-31 millimeter tail) is an insectivore. The hedgehog - a thunderstorm of vipers, the underground resident mole, the muskrat swimming in an expensive fur coat - are also insectivores. Tanrecs live in Madagascar - “hedgehogs” without thorns. In the West Indies - solenodonts, or gaptooths, similar to them. In Indonesia - dart frog tupai. Scientists have been arguing about them for a long time: insectivorous tupai or prosimians. Here we will follow those who still consider them to be prosimians. Insectivores live on land and in water, underground and in trees, and everywhere they have adapted to their surroundings quite well.

Insectivores 9 families:

- slittoothed
- tenrecs
- otter shrews
- golden moles
- hedgehogs
- jumping
- shrews
- moles
- muskrats

Prygunchikovs are now often classified as a separate order.

Insectivores

Insectivores are a group of primitive placental mammals of the chordate type. These are the most ancient animals, the development of embryos of which occurs through the formation of the placenta. They appeared on Earth during evolution at the beginning Cretaceous period. Paleontologists consider the ancestors of insectivores to be the progenitors of all placental mammals.

The order Insectivores unites seven families: moles, hedgehogs, slittooths, jumpers, golden moles, tenrecs, shrews. The orders, in turn, are divided into more than 60 genera, including more than 300 species. Representatives of insectivores are hedgehog, shrew, mole, muskrat.

Insectivores are widespread throughout the world, except Antarctica, Greenland, Australia and most of South America. These animals inhabited different habitats: terrestrial (shrews, hedgehogs), aquatic (muskrats, otter shrews), soil (moles, golden moles). Insectivores are predominantly nocturnal. They are omnivores, but give preference to animal food, feeding on invertebrates (including insects - hence the name of the order) and small vertebrates. Many insectivores dig holes in which they hide from enemies. Some species hide in the forest floor. Insectivores are active throughout the year; rare species from the hedgehog family are able to hibernate for the winter.

Insectivorous mammals usually small to medium in size. The body cover of shrews and moles is short, dense hair, tenrecs are covered with bristles, and hedgehogs are covered with spines. The color of the coat is varied - from gray to black, sometimes spotted. The head of insectivores is elongated and often has a movable proboscis with long sensitive hairs. The eyes and ears of these animals are small in size and almost invisible. They have a very well developed sense of smell and touch. The teeth of all animals of this group are poorly differentiated. The limbs of most species of insectivores are plantigrade, each with five fingers with claws. The tail can be almost invisible, like that of a hedgehog, or equal in length to the size of the body, like that of a muskrat. In the skin of animals there are special skin glands; in some species they secrete a secretion with a strong odor.

The structure of the brain contains characteristics. The large hemispheres have a primitive structure without convolutions. They are small in size and do not cover the cerebellum, and the olfactory part of the brain is well developed.

Insectivores are polygamous animals. They breed 2-3 times a year, with litters ranging from one to twenty young.

The importance of insectivores lies in the fact that they are members of a variety of natural biocenoses. For humans, some species of insectivores serve as objects of fur trade (moles, muskrats).

Characteristics of insectivores

Insectivores eat arthropods - pests of agriculture and forestry. But they themselves can be dangerous to people, since some of them are intermediate hosts ticks are carriers of serious diseases. Rare species Insectivores, such as muskrats and slittooths, are listed in the Red Book and are protected.

Order Insectivores

This order includes hedgehogs, moles, and shrews. These are small animals with a small brain, the hemispheres of which do not have grooves or convolutions. The teeth are poorly differentiated. Most insectivores have an elongated muzzle with a small proboscis. They feed on small invertebrate animals, mainly insects. They are widespread on our planet, found everywhere except Antarctica, Australia and most of South America.

Of the hedgehogs in our country, the most widespread is the common hedgehog. It is often found on the edges of deciduous and mixed forests, overgrown with bushes, often in the forest-steppe, willingly populates orchards. Active at dusk and at night (see textbook illustration, p. 230).

Common hedgehog

Common hedgehog- insectivorous, with a body length of 20–30 cm, weight 700–800 g. The body is heavy, short legs, the back is covered with sharp needles. The entire belly and head are covered with brownish wool. Special muscles allow the hedgehog to curl up into a ball and raise its spines. In this position he is almost invulnerable. However, he also has enemies. So, during a night hunt, he is attacked by an eagle owl, which is not afraid of the hedgehog’s quills, since its fingers are covered with durable horny scales.

It is not always possible for a hedgehog to escape from a fox, which carefully rolls it to the nearest body of water. Once in the water, the hedgehog turns around and finds itself prey to the fox.

The hedgehog feeds on various small animals: earthworms, insects and their larvae, slugs, frogs, mice. Sometimes he attacks the viper, since he is insensitive to the effects of its poison.

In the second half of summer, in the forest under a bush or in a hole in the soil, you can find a hedgehog nest with 4–8 cubs. Hedgehogs are born with eyes closed and ears, they are covered with light soft spines. The hedgehog feeds the cubs with milk and, in case of danger, transfers them to a new nest. Hedgehogs grow quickly and after two months reach the size of adults, and the next year they become sexually mature.

In the fall, the hedgehog begins to build a winter den, which he makes in a pile of straw, leaves, and moss. The material is collected in a unique way: it rolls around in fallen leaves, stringing them on needles. It goes into hibernation in September - November.

The common hedgehog benefits forestry and agriculture, as it destroys a lot of mouse-like rodents and harmful insects.

Common mole

Common mole - a small animal, its body length is 12–16 cm, weight 60–110 g. It lives on the edges of forests, meadows, fields, floodplains, preferring soil rich in earthworms and other invertebrates. Leads an underground lifestyle. In this regard, it has a number of adaptations: the body is ridged with a pointed head, covered with thick velvety fur. The hair does not have a specific direction, thanks to which the mole moves freely along narrow earthen passages both forward and backward. The shortened front paws with wide five-fingered shovel-like palms are turned outward. Moles use them to make underground passages. Taken by surprise on the surface of the earth, the mole instantly disappears into the depths of the soil. The mole’s head also serves to throw earth out, resulting in the formation of “mole heaps” - molehills, which reveal its location. The mole is active all year round; in the winter it goes to the deeper layers of the soil for food (worms, insect larvae).

In one of the deep passages, the mole makes a nest, in which the female gives birth to 3 to 7 naked, blind cubs in the summer. For about a month, the mother feeds them with milk, and the cubs grow and develop quickly. They reach sexual maturity next year (see textbook illustration, p. 230).

The mole has few enemies, these are fox and marten, as well as snowy ones frosty winters, from which many of them die.

The mole brings certain benefits, destroying many harmful insects and their larvae, changing the structure of the soil. In addition, the mole is a valuable fur-bearing animal.

The order of insectivores includes shrews(common shrew, water shrew, etc.). Outwardly, they are very similar to mice, but differ from them in their pointed muzzle, elongated into a proboscis, small ears and eyes hidden in soft velvety fur.

Common shrew

Common shrew - small animal, body length 6–9 cm, tail 3.5–5 cm, weight from 8 to 15 g. Its velvety fur is dark brown or brown on top and lighter below; in winter its color is darker. Lives in coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests, preferring damp areas. Often found in floodplains forest rivers, streams and forest ravines. The animal is very careful and spends most of its time in passages under the forest floor or surface layers of soil, looking for food: insects, earthworms, slugs. Often the shrew attacks mice or frogs. It also consumes small amounts of plant foods (spruce, cedar seeds, berries, etc.). It is active around the clock (throughout the year), most of the time it hunts, since it cannot “fast” for more than nine hours, otherwise it will die. The shrew breeds throughout the warm period of the year, during which time the female twice brings from 4 to 10 cubs, which quickly grow and develop.

The shrew is a useful animal for forestry, as it destroys a lot of harmful insects and their larvae, as well as mouse-like rodents (see textbook illustration, p. 230).

Water cutter

Water cutter- large shrew, body length 7–10 cm, tail 6–7.5 cm, weight 10–17 g. Color hairline bicolor: the back is brown-black, the belly is silver-white, the tail is bicolor (see textbook illustration, p. 230).

Kutora lives in the forest near rivers, lakes, and swamps. Leads a semi-aquatic lifestyle, swims well, and dives well. She is well adapted to this lifestyle. Its thick fur does not allow water to pass through at all; after leaving the water, the animal remains dry. Fingers hind legs bordered by a comb of dense hair, straightening out in the water, they transform hind limbs in the oars. Ears can close when diving. Despite its small size, the kutora - dangerous predator: feeds on insects, mollusks, frogs, mouse-like rodents, which it hunts at dusk and at night. She runs well on land too, with her head up long muzzle and moving it from side to side. Sometimes the shrew stores food by dragging caught insects, worms and other small animals into the soil. During the summer, it twice brings offspring into burrows prepared for this purpose, in which the cubs stay for the first time after birth.

Shrew destroys many harmful invertebrate animals, but also destroys fish fry and eggs, causing damage to fisheries.

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From the book Anthropology and Concepts of Biology author Kurchanov Nikolay Anatolievich

From the author's book

Order Chiroptera This order includes the bats and fruit bats. The only group of mammals capable of long-term active flight. The forelimbs are transformed into wings. They are formed by a thin elastic leathery flight membrane, which is stretched between

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Order Lagomorpha These are small and medium-sized mammals. They have two pairs of incisors in the upper jaw, located one after the other so that behind the large front ones there is a second pair of small and short ones. There is only one pair of incisors in the lower jaw. There are no fangs, and incisors

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Squad Rodents Squad unites different types squirrels, beavers, mice, voles, rats and many others. They are distinguished by a number of features. One of them is the peculiar structure of the teeth, adapted to feeding on hard food. plant foods(branches of trees and shrubs, seeds,

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The Predatory Squad The squad unites quite diverse appearance mammals. However, they are characterized by a number common features. Most feed mainly on vertebrates, a few are omnivores. All carnivores have small incisors, large conical fangs and

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Order Pinnipeds Pinnipeds - marine mammals, which have retained contact with land, where they rest, breed and molt. Most live in coastal zone, and only some species live in the open sea. All of them, like aquatic animals, have a peculiar appearance:

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Order Cetaceans This order unites mammals whose entire life is spent in water. Due to their aquatic lifestyle, their body acquired a torpedo-shaped, well-streamlined shape, the forelimbs were turned into fins, and their hind limbs disappeared. Tail

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Order Odd-toed ungulates These are mostly quite large animals. The number of fingers varies. All equids are characterized by a strong development of the third (middle) finger, which bears the main weight of the body. The remaining fingers are less developed. On the terminal phalanges -

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Order Artiodactyls The order includes herbivorous animals of medium and large sizes, adapted for fast running. Most long legs with a pair of fingers (2 or 4), covered with hooves. The axis of the limb passes between the third and fourth

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Order Primates This order includes the most diverse mammals in appearance and lifestyle. However, they have a number of common characteristics: a relatively large skull, the eye sockets are almost always directed forward, thumb opposed

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7.2. Order Primates Man belongs to the order Primates. To understand systematic position human in it, it is necessary to represent phylogenetic relationships various groups this

Mammals of this order are the most ancient and primitive of the placentals. Their brain is small, its hemispheres are without convolutions. Conditioned reflexes are produced poorly. Body temperature is not always constant. The teeth - incisors, canines and molars - differ little in shape. Vision is weak. Only the sense of smell is well developed, and therefore the tip of the muzzle is extended into a small but clearly visible proboscis.

The ancestors of insectivores are the possible ancestors of all other placentals. Insectivores include shrews, moles and hedgehogs.

Figure: Insectivorous mammals - common hedgehog, mole, shrew

Shrews

These animals are similar in appearance to mice. The most common and widespread common shrew. Its small body, 7-10 cm long, is covered with dark brown fur. The shrew is most often found in forests and meadows, but it can also live in the steppe and tundra.

Despite its short legs, the shrew runs quickly. With great mobility, the animal requires a lot of food. The common shrew eats 1.5-2 times its body weight in food per day. Having had enough, the animal rests for a short time, but as soon as the food is digested, it goes out in search of new food. All shrew teeth have the same structure. These teeth can be used to grab and roughly crush prey. The shrew cannot chew it properly. Shrews are active around the clock in all seasons. Prey, mainly insects, is found on the ground, among the forest floor, under the snow and in other places that are inaccessible to insectivorous birds. Shrews benefit by eating large quantities of harmful insects.

Common mole

The life of a mole passes in the ground in holes dug by him. There are especially many moles in forest and forest-steppe zones, where they are found in meadows, fields, along forest edges, in gardens and vegetable gardens. Emissions of earth from the underground galleries of the mole are clearly visible - molehills. The entire structure of the mole's body is adapted to life in burrows and digging. It is dense, cylindrical in shape, the head is devoid of ears, the neck is almost invisible. The mole digs the soil with its strong forelimbs - they are short, but with a wide brush armed with powerful claws. With such a paw, like a shovel, the mole loosens the earth and throws it back. Due to life in a dark hole, the mole's eyes are underdeveloped: they are the size of a pinhead. The mole finds food using its well-developed sense of smell and touch.

The mole's hair is short and velvety. When a mole moves forward in a hole, the undercoat fits tightly to its body and protects the animal’s skin from soil and moisture getting into it. When the mole backs away, the undercoat easily folds back in the opposite direction.

The mole is active all year round. It constantly walks around holes several hundred meters long dug in different directions and eats earthworms, insects and their larvae that get there. When food becomes scarce, the mole digs new tunnels. Moles are hunted for their beautiful fur.

Common hedgehog

Many have seen a hedgehog in nature and know about its ability, when in danger, to curl up into a ball, exposing its needles - modified hair. The hedgehog is a nocturnal animal. It is very voracious and eats many invertebrates, including insect larvae. With the onset of winter and lack of food, the hedgehog hides in a shelter where it hibernates. The hedgehog's body temperature drops, it rarely breathes, the heart works slowly and weakly - the whole body is in a deep stupor until the onset of the warm season.