Momentarily pausing after eating some mealworms, an elusive shrew’s long snout pointed skywards, unaware of the historic portrait that had just been captured.

The Mount Lyell shrew, a tiny mammal that lives high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, was first described 100 years ago, but the elusive creature had never been photographed alive. So, in November 2024,

Three college students found a way to take photos of the Mt. Lyell shrew, which has never been photographed in the 100 years since the mammal was discovered.

To take photos of the Mount Lyell shrew, three students laid out over 100 traps last November in the Eastern Sierra Nevada region and checked them every two hours.

A momentous moment for the wildlife world was captured on camera after a live Mount Lyell shrew was photographed.

You can now feast your eyes on the mysterious and very elusive Mount Lyell Shrew. It's a shy little creature. In fact, this is the first time this creature has ever been photographed alive before. According to the California Academy of Sciences,

The rare and elusive Mount Lyell shrew has been photographed for the first time in the 100 years since its discovery, thanks to a group of determined university students in California. The small, mouse-like creature,

There is something inherently appealing about finding an animal few have seen in the wild. This could be a “lost” species or a particularly rare creature, but for students at University of California,