Dead Water Shrew

When out and about I find more dead shrews than any other kind of mammal. They often starve, as their finely tuned metabolism means they need to eat regularly and they are seldom eaten by scavangers due, apparently, to tasting obnoxious. These are some of the reasons why they are often found dead and intact. The species in my hand in this photo is a Water Shrew Neomys fodiens. By the way, it is a common misconception that shrews are rodents, like mice and voles, etc. But they are not, they are insectivores (order Insectivora) as are hedgehogs, desmans and moles.