The challenge of being small

I study the common shrew (Sorex araneus), a tiny mammal with a metabolism so extreme that even a few hours without food can be fatal.

This high metabolism makes them particularly vulnerable to seasonal changes, and it makes it impossible for them to hibernate during winter. Their solution? They shrink.

Unlike animals that grow steadily over years, shrews undergo a radical transformation within a single lifetime.

This dramatic change, Dehnel’s Phenomenon, reduces their brain, bones, and organs to save energy in winter scarcity, regrowing them in spring for breeding.