In spite of its widespread distribution, the Southeastern Shrew remained very poorly known until a new trapping method, the pitfall trap, came into use in the 1970s and 1980s. Pitfall traps are traps sunk into the ground: small mammals...

Because the Dwarf Shrew is so small, it doesn't trigger the older snap or box traps, and before 1966, only 18 specimens had been collected. With the use of pitfall traps, which are basically cans sunk into the ground so that the animal...