The Senses of Shrews

Abstract

During the summer of 1960, an investigation was continued on the senses involved in obstacle avoidance by shrews. Live Sorex were trapped within a 35 mile radius of the Biological Research Station. They were brought back to the laboratory where a variety of operations were performed. To facilitate these operations, an anesthetic dose of nembutol was determined. Particularly, their vibrissae were cut and their ears plugged and sham-plugged to evaluate the effect of impaired senses on their ability to avoid obstacles. This evaluation was made by observing a shrew's performance, both speed and ability to avoid obstacles, in a 16 x 8 foot maze set up with about 450 glass vials which were easily knocked down when struck by a running shrew. The data is presently being treated statistically. Project Number 106.