Conspecific Killing and Cannibalism by a Free-ranging Northern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda)

Brent M. Graves^1,* and Suzanne M. Petschke²

¹Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI 49855. ²Marquette, MI 49855. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 32, Issue 4 (2025): N79–N81

First published early online: 27 December 2025

Abstract
Blarina brevicauda (Northern Short-tailed Shrew) are commonly characterized as solitary, aggressive to the point of killing conspecifics, and cannibalistic. Other reports of social interactions suggest that they get along quite amiably with conspecifics. However, virtually all such reports are based on observations of captive animals in enclosures. We report observations indicating that a free-ranging Short-tailed Shrew attacked and killed a conspecific, dragged the dead conspecific to a burrow in a snow bank, and consumed the conspecific.

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