Shrew

Shrews are small, mouse-like mammals of the family Soricidae. Although their external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, the shrews are not rodents and not closely related: the shrew family is part of the order Soricomorpha. Shrews have feet with five clawed toes, unlike rodents, which have four. Shrews are also not to be confused with either treeshrews or elephant shrews, which belong to different orders.

Shrews are distributed almost worldwide: of the major temperate land masses, only New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand do not have native shrews at all; South America has shrews only in the far-northern tropics. In terms of species diversity, the shrew family is the fourth most successful of the mammal families, being rivaled only by the muroid families Muridae and Cricetidae and the bat family Vespertilionidae.

In the English language, the word shrew is also used to describe a woman with a violent, scolding, selfish or nagging temperament, as in Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew. The animals were believed historically to behave aggressively and with cruelty, and to have a poisonous bite; the term "shrew" was then applied to a person thought to have a similar disposition.

Shrews in furry fandom
Perhaps the most famous anthropomorphic shrew is Auntie Shrew, from The Secret of NIMH.


 * «Shady Shrew» - the character of comics «Slylock Fox».
 * «Digger» - In a plot comics appears Surka.
 * «Redwall» - in a cartoon serial shrews Guosim and a tribe of shrews-pygmies have been shown.
 * «The Animals of Farthing Wood» - in a cartoon serial there were two shrews, the Mr. and Mrs. Shrew.
 * «Our Wonderful Nature: The Water Shrew» - 3D-cartoon film Tomer Eshed.


 * In the American cartoon serial of 1998 «Godzilla: The Series» in a series «The Twister» heroes resist monstrous Shrewster - huge a mutant a shrew, connected because of nuclear experiment with hurricane. Monstrous hurricane involved all around, providing freely floating in it the shrew-mutant has enough livelihood for its fast metabolism.

Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival

 * In an English city of Shrewsbury annual festival Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival is spent. On festival logos draw shrews. The logo of 2010 has drawn Royston Robertson. In 2010 it was spent from April, 22 till April, 25th. A theme of 2010 is Magic, Myth and Mystery. A festival site www.ShrewsburyCartoonFestival.com.