What are shrews?

• Shrews are small and mouse-like mammals, and they live in sub-leaf stratum in the forests. 
• They are insectivorous mammals having a mobile snout that is covered with long sensitive whiskers and overhangs the lower lip. 
• Their large incisor teeth are used like forceps to grab prey. Shrews have a foul odour caused by scent glands on the flanks (between the ribs and the hip) as well as other parts of the body.

Narcondam Island

• Narcondam Island is a 6.8 km² oceanic island of volcanic origin located about 240 km northeast of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal.
• Here we find endemic Narcondam Hornbill which is found only in Narcondam.

Why in the news?

• The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has discovered a new species of insectivorous mammal, a white-toothed shrew, from Narcondam Island of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• With this discovery the number of mammals found in the country have increased from 429 to 430. Total number of shrews in India has increased to 12.

References:

1. https://www.britannica.com/animal/shrew
2. https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5914/
3. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/new-species-of-shrew-discovered-in-andamans-narcondam-island/article34478344.ece