“Unveiling Nature’s Secret: Watch the Rare Shrew Species Captured on Camera for the Very First Time!”
Imagine a creature so elusive that it managed to dodge the camera’s lens for over a century — until now! Meet the Mount Lyell shrew, a tiny furry mammal that’s been hanging out in the Sierra Nevada but has never posed for a picture, as if it’s been practicing the art of hide-and-seek since its discovery more than 100 years ago. Picture this little guy, eyes wide and snout raised, caught off guard by a camera for the very first time. It’s practically the shrew equivalent of a reality TV debut! A determined team of young wildlife enthusiasts set out on a mission to capture this enigmatic creature in action, and let me tell you, it wasn’t a stroll through the park. As they camped in the frigid temperatures of November and battled fatigue from sleepless nights, their persistence paid off in a remarkable way. So, what sparked this adventure and what did they discover about this special little shrew? Let’s dive into the captivating story of the first-ever live photograph of the Mount Lyell shrew! LEARN MORE
The Mount Lyell shrew was discovered more than 100 years ago but has never been photographed alive — until now.
Vishal Subramanyan, Prakrit Jain, Harper ForbesThe Mount Lyell shrew as captured in its Sierra Nevada mountain habitat.
The furry creature doesn’t look quite camera-ready. Its snout is raised as if it’s sniffing the air, and its eyes are glazed and bright. It’s no wonder why the tiny California mammal appears so stunned — the Mount Lyell shrew photographed in the Sierra Nevada had never seen a camera before. And until recently, no camera had ever documented one of these shrews alive.
All that changed thanks to an enterprising team composed of a young wildlife photographer and two student scientists. After learning that the Mount Lyell shrew was the only California mammal that had never been photographed alive, they made it their mission to track down the creature and snap some pictures. And after several harrowing nights of carefully monitoring the traps they set, the team succeeded.
Hunting The Mount Lyell Shrew In The Eastern Sierra Nevada
The mission to photograph the Mount Lyell shrew was led by Vishal Subramanyan, a recent University of California, Berkeley graduate, with student scientists Prakrit Jain of UC Berkeley and Harper Forbes of the University of Arizona. When they learned that the Mount Lyell shrew was the only California mammal that had never been photographed alive, they launched a mission to track it down — and take some pictures.
Vishal Subramanyan, Prakrit Jain, Harper ForbesOne of the Mount Lyell shrews peeking out from the underbrush.
“After scouring the internet and consulting with experts,” Subramanyan explained in an Instagram video co-produced with the California Academy of Sciences — where Jain is an intern and Subramanyan works with its California Creators for Nature — “we were really surprised to learn that no live photos existed of the Mount Lyell shrew.”
To All That’s Interesting, Subramanyan further explained: “We decided to photograph it because despite the many threats it faces from climate change, there is little awareness and documentation of this animal. By photographing it for the first time and observing its natural history, we could learn really valuable behavioral information on this animal and use photos to raise awareness about the threats it faces.”
So, in November 2024, the trio set out to the eastern Sierra Nevada in search of the elusive shrew. Doing so was no easy feat. For one, the shrew is small, less than four inches long and about 0.15 ounces in weight. For another, the tiny creature has an incredibly high metabolism, which means that it needs to eat every couple of hours or it will die. Thus, the shrew seekers had to constantly monitor their traps.
“One of the most challenging parts was the lack of sleep,” Subramanyan told All That’s Interesting. “Because shrews have such fast metabolisms, they will die if they spend more than two hours in a trap unattended. This means we needed to check traps every two hours, meaning we could not sleep for more than two hours at a time… In total, we slept only about eight hours the whole trip. Another major challenge was the cold. We had to stay up through the nights, where temperatures often dropped down to 15 degrees.”
But it was worth it. Over the course of their three-day expedition, the young researchers succeeded in capturing four different species of shrew: the vagrant shrew, montane shrew, Merriam’s shrew — and the highly elusive Mount Lyell shrew.
Photographing The Mount Lyell Shrew For The Very First Time
Vishal Subramanyan, Prakrit Jain, Harper ForbesSorex lyelli, better known as the Mount Lyell shrew.
All in all, the mission to photograph the Mount Lyell shrew was a success. Having lured six of the elusive creatures into pitfall traps baited with cat food and mealworms, Subramanyan, Jain, and Forbes documented them.
“We were surprised at how many of them we caught,” Subramanyan told All That’s Interesting, “and the frequency in which we observed them stashing their food, something not previously documented in this species.”
