Georgia Gardening: Least Shrew, 1 by sterhill

sterhill wrote:
I was in another forum where people were talking about critters in their yards and thought it would be good to post this here. I was watering with a water wand, sticking the wand's head under the plants to get close to the roots and under the mulch when this little critter came barreling out and ran up a pine tree - came to a stop about 1' up and just hunkered down and hung on. I grabbed the camera and got a couple of shots before he/she ran back in the bushes.

The pictures were not great but good enough to get an ID from the identification forum... The spots on its fur is water...
This creature is called a "Least Shrew". I've never seen one before, did not know we have them in Georgia and certainly did not know they lived in my yard! About 3.5" long.

Nice little critters - they eat slugs and bugs...
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/... has better pix