FRESNO, Calif. — A year ago, Fresno Chaffee Zoo’s northern tree shrews were lab animals facing a death sentence.
The scruffy, squirrel-like creatures were about to be destroyed because Duke University didn’t need them anymore. But researchers suspected there might be an alternative, so they issued an SOS — Save Our Shrews.
The Fresno zoo responded, and zoo officials are glad they did.
The shrews are not the “big, fuzzy, charismatic type” of animal that zoos always want, but Andy Snider, the zoo’s director of animal care and conservation, said he feels for “underdog species” like shrews.
And the shrews are a natural fit for the zoo, Snider said, because they get along well with other species. Besides that, he thinks they’re “interesting and very cute.”
Now the grayish-brown, high-strung critters share an outdoor exhibit with crested wood partridges and fairy bluebirds — and they seem to be thriving. A pair of them had babies last month.
Northern tree shrews, native to Southeast Asia, are a relatively new species to U.S. zoos. Before the animals were offered, only three were on display at one zoo in Cleveland, Snider said.
Duke and another university that was not identified offered nearly three dozen shrews. The Fresno zoo was among 11 that took them. Fresno accepted two males and two females from Duke.
Scientists have been using shrews as one of 16 species whose genetics are being sequenced as part of research to map the entire human genetic code. The shrews were selected because they share many human traits: color vision, complex nervous systems, relatively large brains.
The degree of their similarity to humans remains up for debate. They are a close relative of primates and are not rodents; they belong to a group that lies in between, scientists say.
But they seem highly intelligent, Snider said. They have a brain-to-body mass ratio greater than that of any other mammal, including humans, scientists say.
Shrews are awake during the day, displaying a whirlwind pace that makes them fun for viewing.
“They are interesting animals that we can tell a story about,” Snider said.
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