Prairie shrew
Sorex haydeni Baird, 1857
The prairie shrew (Sorex haydeni) is a species in the family Soricidae, order Eulipotyphla. Recorded adults weigh 3.5 g to 5.1 g and live up to 1.63 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the prairie shrew
- Weight
- 3.5 g – 5.1 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 1.63 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 2.5 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 19.5 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 6.57src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 7.96 months – 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.7src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the prairie shrew live?
Not recorded
What is the prairie shrew?
The prairie shrew (Sorex haydeni) is a small shrew found in the Canadian prairies and midwestern United States. At one time, this species was considered to be a subspecies of the similar cinereus shrew, S. cinereus.
It is brown in color with light grey underparts with a long tail. Its body is about 8 cm (3.1 in) in length including a 3 cm (1.2 in) long tail. It weighs about 4 g. This animal is found in open grasslands, often near water. It eats insects, worms, snails, small mammals and seeds. Predators include hawks, owls, snakes, and foxes. This animal is active day and night year-round. It mates between spring and fall. 3 to 6 young are born in a nest under a log or rocks.
From the Wikipedia article “Prairie shrew” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prairie_shrew&oldid=1314565617), 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 prairie shrew endangered?
The prairie shrew is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the prairie shrew classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderEulipotyphla
- familySoricidae
- genusSorex
- SpeciesSorex haydeni Baird, 1857
Synonyms Sorex hayden
Other names and names in other languages (9)
- Hayden's shrewEnglish
- Hayden's shrewEnglish
- rejsek prériovýCzech
- PräriespitzmausGerman
- Musaraña de HaydenSpanish
- preeriapäästäinenFinnish
- musaraigne des steppesFrench
- ハイデントガリネズミJapanese
- ryjówka preriowaPolish
Relatives of the prairie shrew
Other species in the same genus Sorex.
Eurasian pygmy shrew
Sorex minutus
Common shrew
Sorex araneus
Laxmann's shrew
Sorex caecutiens
Eurasian least shrew
Sorex minutissimus
Alpine shrew
Sorex alpinus
Taiga shrew
Sorex isodon
ComparePrairie shrew vs Eurasian pygmy shrewPrairie shrew vs Common shrewPrairie shrew vs Laxmann's shrewPrairie shrew vs Eurasian least shrew
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the prairie shrew?
An adult prairie shrew weighs 3.5 g – 5.1 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the prairie shrew endangered?
The prairie shrew is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the prairie shrew live?
The prairie shrew has a recorded lifespan of 1.63 years.
How long is the prairie shrew pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 19.5 days.
What kind of animal is the prairie shrew?
The prairie shrew (Sorex haydeni) 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.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - 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).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Prairie shrew (Sorex haydeni). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/prairie-shrew
“Prairie shrew (Sorex haydeni).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/prairie-shrew.
@misc{prairie_shrew_2026,
title = {Prairie shrew (Sorex haydeni)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/prairie-shrew},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}