Black shrew
Suncus ater Medway, 1965
The black shrew (Suncus ater) is a species in the family Soricidae, order Eulipotyphla. Recorded adults weigh about 11.1 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Data Deficient.
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Quick facts about the black shrew
- Weight
- 11.1 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Data Deficient (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the black shrew live?
Not recorded
What is the black shrew?
The black shrew (Suncus ater) is a white-toothed shrew only known from Mount Kinabalu in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.
It is known from a single specimen (holotype) which was collected in montane forest at 1,600 meters elevation.
From the Wikipedia article “Black shrew” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_shrew&oldid=1314380746), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the black shrew endangered?
The black shrew is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List: it has too little data for its risk to be assessed.
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Data Deficient species.
How is the black shrew classified?
Relatives of the black shrew
Other species in the same genus Suncus.

Etruscan shrew
Suncus etruscus

Asian house shrew
Suncus murinus
Anderson's shrew
Suncus stoliczkanus
Day's shrew
Suncus dayi
Bornean pygmy shrew
Suncus hosei
Flores shrew
Suncus mertensi
CompareBlack shrew vs Etruscan shrewBlack shrew vs Asian house shrewBlack shrew vs Anderson's shrewBlack shrew vs Day's shrew
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the black shrew?
An adult black shrew weighs 11.1 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the black shrew endangered?
The black shrew is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, meaning it has too little data for its risk to be assessed.
What kind of animal is the black shrew?
The black shrew (Suncus ater) belongs to the family Soricidae in the order Eulipotyphla.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). Black shrew (Suncus ater). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-shrew
“Black shrew (Suncus ater).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-shrew.
@misc{black_shrew_2026,
title = {Black shrew (Suncus ater)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-shrew},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}