Vagrant shrew
Sorex vagrans Baird, 1858
The vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans) is a species in the family Soricidae, order Eulipotyphla. Recorded adults weigh 5.58 g to 5.9 g and live up to 1.5 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the vagrant shrew
- Weight
- 5.58 g – 5.9 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 1.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 2.08 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 20.3 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5.55src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 13.7 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src 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 vagrant shrew live?
Not recorded
What is the vagrant shrew?
The vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans), also known as the wandering shrew, is a medium-sized North American shrew. At one time, the montane shrew and the Orizaba long-tailed shrew were considered to belong to the same species.
From the Wikipedia article “Vagrant shrew” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vagrant_shrew&oldid=1315308454), 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 vagrant shrew endangered?
The vagrant 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 vagrant shrew classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderEulipotyphla
- familySoricidae
- genusSorex
- SpeciesSorex vagrans Baird, 1858
Other names and names in other languages (11)
- Wandering shrewEnglish
- Wandering shrewEnglish
- rejsek toulavýCzech
- WanderspitzmausGerman
- Musaraña de VagrantSpanish
- niittypäästäinenFinnish
- musaraigne erranteFrench
- カワリトガリネズミJapanese
- West-Amerikaanse SpitsmuisDutch
- ryjówka wędrownaPolish
- Бродячая бурозубкаRussian
Relatives of the vagrant 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
CompareVagrant shrew vs Eurasian pygmy shrewVagrant shrew vs Common shrewVagrant shrew vs Laxmann's shrewVagrant shrew vs Eurasian least shrew
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the vagrant shrew?
An adult vagrant shrew weighs 5.58 g – 5.9 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the vagrant shrew endangered?
The vagrant shrew is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the vagrant shrew live?
The vagrant shrew has a recorded lifespan of 1.5 years.
How long is the vagrant shrew pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 20.3 days.
What kind of animal is the vagrant shrew?
The vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans) 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 - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - 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). Vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/vagrant-shrew
“Vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/vagrant-shrew.
@misc{vagrant_shrew_2026,
title = {Vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/vagrant-shrew},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}