[4] It is found in damp, forested or bushy areas with deep, loose soils in the northwestern United States and southwestern British Columbia.

[6] Its front paws are smaller and do not face outwards from the body as in more fossorial moles, and so are more similar to those of shrews.

The front paws are also broad with bifurcate phalanges, which provide more support for the claws in order to dig.

[6] Also, the three middle claws of the front paws are elongated and the eyes are also completely covered by skin.

[6] The shrew-mole is often confused with pocket gophers, another group of fossorial subterranean mammals, because they have similar habits but they differ greatly in the methods for burrowing.

[6] This method of lateral-stroke burrowing in shrew moles is an evolutionary adaptation due to the modification of the pectoral girdle and bones of the forelimbs.

[6] The humerus bones are unique to shrew-moles because they exist as massive rectangular shapes, unlike other fossorial mammalian groups.

[6] The burrows are made beneath decaying leaf litter and have an opening on the ceiling that leads to the surface, which serves the purpose of ventilation.

[6] The shrew-mole also makes shallow surface runways by moving the front part of its body 45 degrees to the right and then to the left.

[6] The maxillary only turns into bone in the adults and the roots of the upper molars are exposed in immature shrew-moles.

[5] This mole is often active above ground, foraging in leaf litter for earthworms, insects, snails and slugs.

It is also known to eat some vegetation such as mycorrhizal fungi and even salamanders, but earthworms are the most important food item in its diet.

[6] Its diet also depends on the type of available food sources, so it may eat more vegetation than anything else if there are no insects or other arthropods within its vicinity.

[6] Like all shrew-moles, the stomach size of this shrew mole in inversely proportional to its body weight.

[6] In order to cope with these conditions, shrew-moles contain lungs that can hold large volumes and sometimes even more than 20% of their body weight.

[4] Shrew-moles usually live in areas where it is difficult to cultivate so they are usually economically neutral, but there are some cases where they do damage people's homes.

[6] These methods include using noisemaker devices such as placing empty soft drink bottles at an angle with the bottom in the tunnel while the neck is sticking.