Althouse: The tiniest mammal skittered across my path into a position right by the curb where he did his best to look like an inanimate object.

January 7, 2023

The tiniest mammal skittered across my path into a position right by the curb where he did his best to look like an inanimate object.

36 comments:

Nancy said...: Boy, he is speedy!; 1/7/23, 8:11 AM
Wilbur said...: Looked like one of our Florida cockroaches to me.; 1/7/23, 8:18 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Definitely a mammal. I got a better look at him before he parallel parked. He had a long tail and tiny mousey feet. A baby mouse? I'd say a shrew but don't they only have short tails?; 1/7/23, 8:21 AM
gilbar said...: a shrew, i'd say.. maybe a vole?; 1/7/23, 8:23 AM
traditionalguy said...: Fast enough to play football. If it could hold the ball, no defense could see him, much less catch him. It does sort of affirm Darwin’s survival of the quickest mechanism so it will evolve soon.; 1/7/23, 8:28 AM
Dave Begley said...: One of your voles?; 1/7/23, 8:30 AM
robother said...: I'm pretty sure "shrew" is one of those words you can't say anymore.; 1/7/23, 8:31 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: When one is tiny and soft and closer to the nadir of the food chain rather than the apex, one has few defensive options. I appreciate its dedication to that strategy right up until the moment it flees in terror from our gentle host. Flight it is baby!; 1/7/23, 8:41 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: In other small mammal news, did you guys see the clip from England with the two-legged fox that traipsed through a lady’s backyard? Link below to a video. (Can’t do HTML on the phone right now.)

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bizarre-moment-two-legged-fox-115835532.html; 1/7/23, 8:47 AM
William50 said...: Looked like a vole aka field mouse to me.; 1/7/23, 8:57 AM
Leland said...: Some are wallflowers, this one is a curbpebble.; 1/7/23, 8:59 AM
CStanley said...: Voles have short tails, shrews have longer ones like mice.; 1/7/23, 9:00 AM
stlcdr said...: Failure to stop. Mouse detectives are on his tail…; 1/7/23, 9:11 AM
Curious George said...: It wasn't trying to look like a pebble. Animals that are prey freeze because predators see movement. Why squirrels move in that jerky motion of running and then stopping.; 1/7/23, 9:19 AM
Owen said...: Nice video: you are very observant AND quick with the camera! What WAS that: a field mouse? A vole? A shrew?a

Incredible speed: I guess the slower ones all got eaten.; 1/7/23, 9:21 AM
Original Mike said...: We have tiny zippy burrowing mammals in our yard. I use the label mole/vole, but I don't really know. Would love to find out for sure.; 1/7/23, 9:28 AM
Wince said...: Seems like he knowingly used the curb cut as his route of escape, where predators might not expect the eventual lateral escape route into the ruff.; 1/7/23, 9:36 AM
Bob Boyd said...: It's a tiny robot sent to watch you.; 1/7/23, 9:37 AM
The Neon Madman said...: Arriba! Arriba! Andale! Andale!; 1/7/23, 9:57 AM
gilbar said...: American Water Shrew
But, it seems Too Big
Size
4-5", tail 2-3"; 1/7/23, 9:59 AM
Lurker21 said...: Tiny mammals make Ann happy
Tiny mammals make her feel fine
Tiny mammals in the road; 1/7/23, 10:09 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Curious George has a nice point about squirrels and their strategy. We have a family of roadrunners that do the same run, stop, observe, dash a little further behavior.; 1/7/23, 10:17 AM
BG said...: Our fastest barn cat would just say, "Lunch!"; 1/7/23, 10:20 AM
Ann Althouse said...: It was really so tiny. The body about an inch and a half. Really long tail.

I wish I'd caught it running across in front of me, with the tiny feet in rapid motion and then stop dead and turn into something I would not have thought to be an animal.; 1/7/23, 10:24 AM
TaeJohnDo said...: It looks more like a small pebble the size of a large pebble, to me.; 1/7/23, 10:25 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "It wasn't trying to look like a pebble. Animals that are prey freeze because predators see movement."

Whose use of the verb "to try" is less realistic? I'm going to say yours. That thing is just doing what happens instinctively I presume. It has no higher thoughts about what it looks *like* or — surely! — the nature of other animals' visual perception!; 1/7/23, 10:27 AM
Joe Smith said...: Very quick for having tiny legs.

I can't imagine it will last very long out in the wild...

'I'd say a shrew but don't they only have short tails?'

Seems a bit judgmental...; 1/7/23, 10:32 AM
Temujin said...: In a good Grade B sci-fi flick, it would have turned around to you revealing a massive jawline with 50 or so small, but sharp incisor teeth glistening and dripping with anticipatory saliva. Nothing like anticipatory saliva. You would have screamed. The scene would then quickly cut away to the local soda shop where the other cool kids were hanging out, laughing, not knowing the terror awaiting them on their way home, along the curbs of their own streets.

I think there was a movie about 'Killer Shrews'. In fact...here it is! Killer Shrews Trailer. Watch it. If you can...; 1/7/23, 10:39 AM
Yancey Ward said...: It was Inga.; 1/7/23, 11:27 AM
Inga said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/7/23, 11:37 AM
Inga said...: Meadow jumping mouse. Good thing it ran and didn’t decide to jump upon closer inspection.; 1/7/23, 11:38 AM
Inga said...: If it had been bigger with greasy fur, huge protruding yellow teeth, ears that were ragged from injury and a disgusting bare fleshy tail, I’d say it was the flea carrying Yancey gutter rat.; 1/7/23, 12:11 PM
Mary Beth said...: In other small mammal news, did you guys see the clip from England with the two-legged fox that traipsed through a lady’s backyard?

Saw an article about it on DerbyshireLive recently.; 1/7/23, 12:33 PM
Yancey Ward said...: No, I wasn't in Wisconsin, now, if it were spotted in Tennessee, then you would be right.; 1/7/23, 12:44 PM
Paul said...: I once caught a mole doing that... we were mowing and it jumped out of the ground and fell into the street. Started trying to 'run'!

I took him to a vacant lot and let the little critter go.; 1/7/23, 12:46 PM
Rusty said...: "I can't imagine it will last very long out in the wild..."
They don't. They are basically just food for any predator bigger than itself. Mostly hawks and falcons, but coyotes will hunt them too. Along with cats and dogs. Our husky loved to hunt mice.; 1/7/23, 2:44 PM