Of mice and men

Our mice, voles and shrews lead their lives mainly out of sight, yet they are incredibly abundant in almost every kind of habitat, with even the field vole alone outnumbering human beings, says Marianne Taylor

- Marianne Taylor

IT starts with a rustle or a squeak in the I undergrowth. As you pivot your gaze downwards, you might (if you are lucky) catch a split-second glimpse of a tiny, tawny-furred something rocketing past your foot. A mouse... or was it a vole, or perhaps a shrew?

Mice (family Muridae) and voles (subfamily Arvicolinae) belong to Rodentia, the largest and most diverse grouping of mammals on earth. All rodents have incredibly durable front teeth (incisors) that grow continuously and are used to gnaw hard foods. These are speedy, skittish little animals-not surprising, as they are prey to so many others. They themselves eat mainly plant matter and deploy those formidable teeth to chew through the shells of the toughest nuts.

Shrews (family Soricidae) are very different to mice and voles-in fact, we and our primate kin are closer relatives to rodents than shrews are. Shrews belong to the group Eulipotyphla, which means, charmingly, 'the truly fat and blind'. Shrews are neither fat nor blind, but the description is a closer fit for some other species in the group, such as moles. Eulipotyphlids have pointed teeth, for grabbing and incapacitating living prey. Shrews are, indeed, ferocious and voracious little hunters, eating their own weight in insects and other invertebrates every day. They are forthrightly fearless, so focused on the mission of sniffing out their next meal that they will run straight across a human hand placed in their path.