frozen shrew
tiny, rare, and "pointless"
Frozen shrews are small mammalian animals with amphibious characteristics, that live in shallow near-freezing water, typically in stony shoals, streams and riverbeds high in the Western Mountains.
The creatures are quite tiny, only a couple of centimetres long, and are uniquely adapted to survive off of the limited plant, animal and insect life that exists in their relatively inhospitable environment.
Though only briefly and superficially investigated by Senzile of Wilsadore, a middling biologist of the Scholar's Guild, she was unable to confirm without doubt that the frozen shrew was indeed of Ashvaaryan origin. Despite having defining characteristics like six limbs and semi-mammalian morphology marking them as Ashvaaryan in origin, and their loose similarity to other tiny rodents like grass hamsters, there were too many incongruities. Their need to live in near freezing temperatures, primarily underwater, and the adaptations necessary to do so, set them apart from any other known life anywhere else on Ashvaarya. Add to that, that these strange specialisations limited their habitat to a relatively small number of streams, rivers and slow moving bodies of water at a fairly high altitude in the Western Mountains, and the tiny creatures simply seemed "out of place". There was also historical precedent for non-native hexapedal animals coming through to Ashvaarya, keeping the general morphological similarities from being absolutely indicative.
Senzile determined that there was at least a 25% chance that the frozen shrews were in fact not native animals, and had somehow ended up in the Western Mountains by coming through in one of the Cult of Terra's many pre-sunder incursions.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The frozen shrew is a six limbed rodent like animal with dark, oily hair, and a vertically flattened tail. The front two sets of limbs are armed with three heavy claws for burrowing, and the back set of limbs are long and robust with very large webbed feet for swimming. The tail is almost as long as the rest of it's body, with only short hair around it's base and no hair at the end. The tail starts fairly round at the base but widens out to a leaf shaped flattened section at the end that the frozen shrew uses for steering and even extra thrust while swimming. It also has large eyes with both transparent and opaque eyelids, a protruding snout with an almost non-existent nose, short sharp teeth, and incredibly small, swept back ears.
Biological Traits
Though they appear to be mammals with fir, warm blood, and apparently producing milk to feed their live young, frozen shrews have two particularly unusual traits.
They are highly adapted to survival in extremely low temperatures. Not only do they prefer to live in water around the freezing point, they do not seem capable of surviving in temperatures over ten degrees celsius. It is assumed that their fir helps insulate them somehow, but this still would require that their entire biology is geared towards incredibly cold temperatures, and it was theorised by the only member of the Scholar's Guild to ever write about the creatures, Senzile of Wilsadore, that they might produce some special chemical that helps prevent the formation of ice crystals in their tissue.
They seem capable of breathing underwater and on land. Frozen shrews are so rare and unimportant that they have not been studied in any meaningful way, so their ability to exist above or below water for incredibly long periods of time is not understood. Though they do not appear to have gills of any known type, it is assumed that they either have both lung like organs that can extract oxygen from both water and air, or they are able to absorb oxygen through their skin or in some other way, or least likely of all, that they are able to store oxygen in their body for an incredibly long period of time.
Genetics and Reproduction
Though little is known, the tiny rodents appear to reproduce sexually with two dimorphic sexes. The female is assumed to give live birth to a small litter of blind, fairly helpless young, as females have been found with three or four tiny pups clinging to the fir of her underbelly, seemingly permanently attached to four small feeding teats.
The actual method of reproduction, and the role of the male in reproduction and raising of young is unknown.
Ecology and Habitats
The frozen shrew is unusual in that it lives not only almost entirely underwater, but in freezing rivers and streams that flow out of the frozen peaks of the Western Mountains. They dig out and assemble small underwater burrows in the sand and gravel. They have even been found swimming and hunting along the bottom of frozen over pools. The seem to burrow both to create small nests for themselves and their young, but also to dig for any edible insect or plant life that might be available blow the surface of riverbeds and shores.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Frozen shrews are omnivorous. They hunt the few tiny insects and other creatures that can survive in the frigid waters of the high mountains, but also consume the various lichens and algae that spread along the stony riverbeds.
Additional Information
Social Structure
The tiny rodents seem to be fairly solitary. The only times they have been found in groups are in rare instances of a mother found with three or four tiny pups gripped on to her underbelly.
Uses, Products & Exploitation
The tiny, rare, strange little frozen shrews are of no known use or interest to humans. Though there is record of a lost Ranger once catching and eating the tiny creatures to survive in the harsh wilderness of the high mountains, this was an isolated incident and the shrews were described as "not particularly pleasant or filling".
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Frozen shrews are only found in a very narrow band of temperature and elevation, high in the reaches of the Western Mountains. They seem best adapted to water that is between -1 and 5 degrees celsius. They can sometimes be found at lower altitudes in pools and streams around larger rivers where the water moves quickly enough down from the frozen heights to keep the average temperature quite low. Though it has never been confirmed, it is assumed that the tiny shrews could be found all the way along the length of the mountain range.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Even though the frozen shrew has the typical array of sensory organs one would expect from any vaguely mammalian life form, it's ears and nose are almost insignificant, and it's eyes larger than one would expect. Senzile of Wilsadore, the lone scholar to ever study the animals (however superficially), believed that they were effectively deaf and anosmic, relying almost entirely on their eyesight and sense of touch.
"The minuscule, vaguely mammalian creature referred to by the cliff hunters as 'frozen shrews', may be an elusive and ultimately pointless creature, but what it lacks in utility and function it compensates for with intriguing inexplicably."
- Senzile of Wilsadore, Scholars Guild (781AS)
Origin/Ancestry
assumed Ashvaaryan, but potentially invasive
Conservation Status
Though not considered endangered, frozen shrews are very rare and difficult to find.
Average Weight
3 to 5 grams
Average Length
2 to 3 centimetres
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
The skin of the frozen shrew is typically a very dark brown, with dark fir in similar dark brown shades. This typically lets the creatures blend in fairly well with the stones and pebbles of their habitat, though the utility of such a thing is unknown, since they have no known predators.
Geographic Distribution
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