Assuming, of course, that you haven't already met. The Soricidae are a family of small insectivorous mammals found throughout Eurasia, Africa and North America, with a small number of species extending to South America. By mammal standards, this is a fairly large family with about 370 species currently recognised and a small but steady trickle of new species still being published such as Sylvisorex akaibei from the Congo within the past year (Mukinzi et al., 2009).
Living shrews are usually divided between two subfamilies, the Soricinae and the Crocidurinae, or the red-toothed shrews and white-toothed shrews respectively (Dubey et al, 2007). Red-toothed shrews, found in Eurasia and the Americas, are named after one of their most unusual features, red crowns to their teeth due to the deposition of iron in their enamel (this feature has been lost in a few soricine genera). White-toothed shrews are found in Africa and tropical Asia and make up for lacking the funky tooth pigment of Soricinae by including such creatures as the insanely over-developed hero shrew Scutisorex somereni and the bewildering diversity of the genus Crocidura with in excess of 150 species. Other notable features of shrews include the production by at least some species of toxic saliva, and the formation by young shrews of 'caravans'. One youngster will grasp its mother's rump in its mouth, its own rump will be grabbed by another, and so on until the entire brood forms a train by which the mother will lead it about. The young shrews will remain determinedly clinging to each other even picked up and dangled above the ground like a living monkey chain (Nowak, 1999).
Most shrews are terrestrial generalists though a number of species are semi-aquatic, particularly in the soricine tribe Nectogalini. The American and Pacific water shrews, Sorex palustris and S. bendirii, are capable of running short distances across the surface of water due to their small size and hairy feet. The little-known central African Ruwenzorisorex suncoides has large premolars that have been suggested to indicate a diet of molluscs. In contrast, the mole shrews of the genus Anourosorex are (funnily enough) mole-like burrowers feeding on burrowing insects and earthworms.
REFERENCES
Dubey, S., N. Salamin, S. D. Ohdachi, P. Barrière & P. Vogel. 2007. Molecular phylogenetics of shrews (Mammalia: Soricidae) reveal timing of transcontinental colonizations. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 44 (1): 126-137.
Mukinzi, I., R. Hutterer & P. Barriere. 2009. A new species of Sylvisorex (Mammalia: Soricidae) from lowland forests north of Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. Mammalia 73 (2): 130-134.
Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th ed., vol. 1. JHU Press.