Snowtunnel Shrew

The snowtunnel shrew split from its ancestor. It is named for its habit of burrowing under the snow, which allows it to forage over the long polar winter. This allows it to live in the tundra, which its ancestor was absent from. It is pure white for most of the year, but turns black in the short polar summer. Its fur is so long that its display tufts, while still technically there, are completely hidden. When exposed above ground in the summer, it can still scramble about wildly to evade predators.

The snowtunnel shrew is more social than its ancestor, a consequence of tunneling in snow for food; encountering others of its kind is simply unavoidable, so it tolerates them. It breeds up to 4 times a year and has 5-12 joeys at a time. Its offspring are born helpless, living off of milk in their mother's pouch for the first few weeks of their lives.