North American least shrew
E529591
The North American least shrew is one of the smallest mammals in North America, a tiny insectivorous shrew known for its high metabolism and secretive, burrowing lifestyle in grasslands and forests.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| North American least shrew canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5516240 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: North American least shrew Context triple: [North American mammals, includesSpecies, North American least shrew]
-
A.
Oreamnos
Oreamnos is a genus of North American mountain goats known for their thick white coats and exceptional climbing ability on steep, rocky terrain.
-
B.
Aeromys
Aeromys is a genus of large flying squirrels native to Southeast Asia, known for their gliding membranes and nocturnal, arboreal lifestyle.
-
C.
Petinomys
Petinomys is a genus of small flying squirrels known for their gliding membranes and nocturnal, arboreal lifestyle in Asian forests.
-
D.
Virginia opossum
The Virginia opossum is North America’s only native marsupial, a nocturnal omnivore known for “playing dead” as a defense mechanism and thriving in a wide range of habitats, including forests and urban areas.
-
E.
Sciurillus pusillus
Sciurillus pusillus, commonly known as the neotropical pygmy squirrel, is a tiny South American tree squirrel and the sole living representative of its subfamily.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: North American least shrew Target entity description: The North American least shrew is one of the smallest mammals in North America, a tiny insectivorous shrew known for its high metabolism and secretive, burrowing lifestyle in grasslands and forests.
-
A.
Oreamnos
Oreamnos is a genus of North American mountain goats known for their thick white coats and exceptional climbing ability on steep, rocky terrain.
-
B.
Aeromys
Aeromys is a genus of large flying squirrels native to Southeast Asia, known for their gliding membranes and nocturnal, arboreal lifestyle.
-
C.
Petinomys
Petinomys is a genus of small flying squirrels known for their gliding membranes and nocturnal, arboreal lifestyle in Asian forests.
-
D.
Virginia opossum
The Virginia opossum is North America’s only native marsupial, a nocturnal omnivore known for “playing dead” as a defense mechanism and thriving in a wide range of habitats, including forests and urban areas.
-
E.
Sciurillus pusillus
Sciurillus pusillus, commonly known as the neotropical pygmy squirrel, is a tiny South American tree squirrel and the sole living representative of its subfamily.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (53)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
mammal
ⓘ
shrew ⓘ species ⓘ |
| activityPattern | primarily nocturnal ⓘ |
| assessedBy |
IUCN Red List
ⓘ
linked to:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
|
| binomialName |
Cryptotis parva
ⓘ
linked to:
Cryptotis
|
| bodyLength | approximately 6 to 9 centimeters including tail ⓘ |
| bodyMass | approximately 3 to 5 grams ⓘ |
| class | Mammalia ⓘ |
| commonName |
North American least shrew
ⓘ
least shrew ⓘ |
| conservationStatus | Least Concern ⓘ |
| diet | insectivorous ⓘ |
| eats |
insects
ⓘ
small invertebrates ⓘ spiders ⓘ worms ⓘ |
| family | Soricidae ⓘ |
| foundInEcosystem |
agricultural fields
ⓘ
prairie ecosystems ⓘ |
| furColor |
brown
ⓘ
grayish brown ⓘ |
| genus | Cryptotis ⓘ |
| habitat |
fields
ⓘ
forest edges ⓘ grasslands ⓘ meadows ⓘ open woodlands ⓘ |
| hasCharacteristic |
burrowing behavior
ⓘ
high metabolic rate ⓘ secretive behavior ⓘ very small body size ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| lifespan | approximately 1 year in the wild ⓘ |
| lifestyle |
fossorial
ⓘ
nocturnal ⓘ |
| litterSize | approximately 3 to 7 young ⓘ |
| nativeTo |
Mexico
ⓘ
North America ⓘ United States ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
southern Canada ⓘ |
| order | Eulipotyphla ⓘ |
| phylum | Chordata ⓘ |
| preyedUponBy |
owls
ⓘ
small carnivorous mammals ⓘ snakes ⓘ |
| reproduction | multiple litters per year ⓘ |
| roleInEcosystem |
invertebrate predator
ⓘ
prey for small carnivores ⓘ |
| sheltersIn |
runways under vegetation
ⓘ
shallow burrows ⓘ |
| tailLength | approximately 1 to 3 centimeters ⓘ |
| taxonRank | species ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: North American least shrew Description of subject: The North American least shrew is one of the smallest mammals in North America, a tiny insectivorous shrew known for its high metabolism and secretive, burrowing lifestyle in grasslands and forests.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.