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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
Animalia	Chordata	Mammalia	Eulipotyphla	Soricidae

Scientific Name:	Chimarrogale himalayica (Gray, 1842)
Common Name(s): English – Himalayan Water Shrew, Elegant Water Shrew

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2016
Date Assessed:	2016-09-10
Assessor(s):	Molur, S.
Reviewer(s):	Amori, G.
Justification: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.
Previously published Red List assessments:	2008 – Least Concern (LC) Download assessment 1996 – Lower Risk/least concern (LR/lc) Download assessment

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This widely distributed species is found in northern South Asia, central to southeast China, and northern parts of Southeast Asia. In South Asia, it has been recorded from India (Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal) and Eastern Nepal (Molur et al. 2005). In China, it has been recorded from Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Ningxia and Yunnan (Smith and Xie 2008). It is present on the island of Taiwan. In Southeast Asia, it has been recorded from northern Myanmar, northern Lao PDR and northern Viet Nam (Francis 2008). It is found at altitudes of 800 to 1,500 m asl in the Himalayas (Corbet and Hill 1992).
Countries occurrence:	Native: China; India; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Myanmar; Nepal; Taiwan, Province of China; Viet Nam
Additional data:	♦ Lower elevation limit (metres): 800 ♦ Upper elevation limit (metres): 1500
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	There is little information available on the abundance of this species.
Current Population Trend:	Unknown
Additional data:	♦ Population severely fragmented: No

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This is a semi-aquatic animal that is generally associated with clear streams in temperate evergreen forests. It inhabits burrows on the banks or near streams (Molur et al. 2005, Francis 2008, Smith and Xie 2008).
Systems:	Terrestrial; Freshwater
Generation Length (years):	1

Use and Trade [top]

Use and Trade:

It is used for medicine purpose.

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):

There appear to be no major threats to this widespread species as a whole. In Nepal, habitat loss due to agriculture expansion, selective logging, harvesting for medical use, poisoning, pest control activities and decline in prey species are some threats to the species (Molur et al. 2005).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:

It is presumably present in a number of protected areas. General field surveys, research into the natural history and monitoring of South Asian populations are recommended (Molur et al. 2005).

Errata [top]

Errata reason:

This errata assessment has been created because the map was accidentally left out of the version published previously.