Elegant Water Shrew vs lignum vitae

Nectogale elegans compared with Guaiacum officinale

Key Differences

• Elegant Water Shrew is Least Concern while lignum vitae is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Elegant Water Shrew	lignum vitae
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Soricomorpha (Soricomorpha)	Zygophyllales (Zygophyllales)
Family	Soricidae	Zygophyllaceae
Genus	Nectogale	Guaiacum
Species	Nectogale elegans	Guaiacum officinale

Conservation Status

Elegant Water Shrew

LC — Least Concern

lignum vitae

CR — Critically Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Elegant Water Shrew	lignum vitae
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Elegant Water Shrew

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

lignum vitae

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical coniferous forests, among 5 distinct biome types within the Neotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Cuba, India, and United States. Currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.