scholarly journals Predation of a Western Water Shrew (Sorex navigator) by a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)

2017 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 299
Author(s):  
Thomas S Jung
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
Piscivorous Birds

Belted Kingfishers (Megaceryle alcyon) are highly piscivorous and rarely take prey other than fish. Here, I report an observation of a male Belted Kingfisher preying on a Western Water Shrew (Sorex navigator) in a small boreal stream in southwestern Yukon. This observation provides further evidence that Belted Kingfishers will occasionally prey on riparian small mammals when the opportunity arises and points to piscivorous birds as apparently novel predators of shrews.

Small mammals in northern Lithuania: species diversity and abundance

Ekologija ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulius Alejūnas ◽  
Vitalijus Stirkė
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Small Mammals

Communities of small mammals in suburban area and undeveloped lands of Yakutsk

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 97-108
Author(s):  
Elena SHADRINA ◽  
◽  
Yakov VOL’PERT ◽  
Valeriy ODNOKURTSEV ◽  
Mikhail SIDOROV ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
Suburban Area

Torpor and hibernation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Body Temperature ◽  
Small Mammals ◽  
Energy Input ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
Daily Torpor ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Small Species ◽  
Universal Feature ◽  
Deep Hibernation

A diurnal (circadian) rhythm in body temperature is a widespread, and possibly universal, feature of endotherms. Some mammals and birds down-regulate their metabolic rate significantly by night, allowing their body temperature to drop sufficiently that they become inactive and enter torpor. Both the minimum temperature achieved and the duration of torpor are highly variable. Daily torpor is principally a response to reduced energy intake, and a drop in ambient temperature. Hibernation is essentially an extreme form of torpor. Small mammals hibernating at high latitudes have regular arousals during which they urinate and may feed. Bears hibernate with relatively high body temperature, and do not undergo arousal. Only one bird, the poorwill, is known to hibernate. Rewarming during arousal may be fuelled exclusively by metabolism (for example in small mammals in the Arctic) or with significant energy input from basking (for example in subtropical arid areas). The capacity for torpor appears to be an ancestral character in both mammals and birds, possibly related to the origin of endothermy in small species subject to marked diurnal and/or seasonal variation in body temperature. Both deep hibernation and strict endothermy are probably derived characteristics.

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