a rare species of ‘special concern’which had never been captured on camera before, in life, was finally captured on film by a team of student researchers.
The never-before-photographed Mount Lyell shrew was photographed alive for the first time in November by three young researchers, Vishal Subramanyan, 22, Prakrit Jain, 20, and Harper Forbes, 22.
Until its “capture” in November, the Sierra Nevada shrew was the only known mammal in the state of California that had never been caught on camera.
Subramanyan said his lucky break could be the first time a human has seen a live Mount Lyell shrew.
“The shrew has not been caught or recorded in two decades,” Subramanyan said SF DOOR. “Therefore, it is very possible that this is one of the least known mammal species in California.”
The elusive mammal measures between 9 and 10 centimeters long and weighs between 2 and 3 grams, according to researchers’ measurements.
The small animal occupies a small, elevated area in the eastern Sierra Nevada and feeds on insects, although biologists know little else about its diet.
It has small, beady eyes and a pointed snout and spends most of its time underground.
The never-before-photographed Mount Lyell shrew (pictured) was photographed alive for the first time in November by three young researchers, Vishal Subramanyan, 22, Prakrit Jain, 20, and Harper Forbes, 22.

Until its “capture” in November, the Sierra Nevada shrew was the only known mammal in the state of California that had never been caught on camera. Pictured: Desert rock formations in the Alabama Hills in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, Lone Pine, California.

The elusive mammal measures between 9 and 10 centimeters long and weighs between 2 and 3 grams, according to researchers’ measurements.
The first identification of the Mount Lyell shrew took place more than 100 years ago, when biologist Clinton Hart Merriam discovered the “rare” species.
However, it has since received little attention from mammalologists.
The Mount Lyell shrew, or Sorex lyelli, as it is known scientifically, has received so little scientific attention partly because of how difficult it is to capture one.
Like its speed, the shrew has an incredibly fast metabolism and will die if it doesn’t eat every two hours, Subramanyan told the outlet.
To catch a live shrew, Subramanyan said he and his partners needed to constantly monitor the traps set. If the researchers left the shrew in a trap overnight, they more than likely woke up to a dead shrew.
Jain, Forbes and Subramanyan, who undertook a grueling, multi-day project hoping to photograph the miniature mammal in early November, told SFGATE that each of them slept no more than two hours at a time and checked the traps regularly.
Subramanyan said he and Jain, both UC Berkeley students, first came up with the idea after trapping and photographing small rodents in the Sierra Nevada on a field trip for their mammal class.
After the trio received a permit from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the group began their grueling three-night expedition on November 1.
They then camped in the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada.
The trio of researchers used omens to dig holes near streams and wetland areas.
Inside the newly formed holes, Subramanyan said he and the others set traps, which he described as “literally just plastic cups.”

Like its speed, the shrew has an incredibly fast metabolism and will die if it doesn’t eat every two hours, Subramanyan told the outlet.

Vishal Subramanyan, 22, said his lucky break could be the first time a human has seen a live Mount Lyell shrew.
Wildlife analysts then filled the traps with cat food and mealworms in hopes of attracting the mini mammal.
Subramanyan said they caught two shrews in the first two hours and, to their surprise, the Mount Lyell shrew was one of the first they caught.
The 22-year-old said the content-rich trip was one of the most difficult adventures he has ever experienced, as students completed their work on minimal sleep and in freezing temperatures.
“At night, temperatures reached 15 degrees,” he said.
“It was like go, go, go,” Subramanyan said.
‘You catch some shrews, photograph them, release them and by then there are more shrews. So it was pretty continuous.”
Over the course of the expedition, the group captured 15 shrews of four different species: the vagrant shrew, the montane shrew, the Merriam’s shrew and the Mount Lyell shrew.
The trio were able to confirm their findings by using a scalpel to collect the tips of the shrew’s tails, which He then performed genetic testing at the California Academy of Sciences.
Jain, Forbes and Subramanyan also recorded measurements of the length and size of the shrews’ ears, observations that had previously only been made on dead specimens.
Through his unique photographs, Subramanyan now hopes to bring greater public recognition to the little-known species and support future conservation efforts.
“Photography is really important for cataloging biodiversity on a rapidly changing planet,” Subramanyan said.

The state of California does not classify the Mount Lyell shrew as a threatened or endangered species, but the state lists it as a mammal species of special concern, a designation that offers it protection. Pictured: Tahoe National Forest in Sierra County, California
‘When it comes to California shrews, there are very few good photographs. “So taking these photographs that haven’t really been taken before helps the public understand and foster a connection with these animals.”
The state of California does not classify the Mount Lyell shrew as a threatened or endangered species, but the state lists it as a mammal species of special concern, a designation that offers it protection.
TO 2015 study from the University of California at Davis rated the shrew as “highly vulnerable” or “extremely vulnerable” to climate change, depending on emissions scenarios.
That study projected that the shrew could lose between 52.6 and 89.5 percent of its habitat by the 2080s.
The shocking discovery comes just after another elusive creature known for its ferocious hunting skills was caught on camera during a rare sighting in Pennsylvania earlier this year.
The graceful forest-dwelling mammal, known as the fisher, was thought to have been wiped out in the Keystone State due to unregulated hunting and mass deforestation in the late 19th century.
At the time of the last trail camera sighting in June in the Murrysville Woods, the angler had previously only been seen in areas two to three hours away.
“I put the camera on an old fallen log in a remote area and left it there for several months,” Bill Powers, founder of wildlife streaming service PixCams, told the Murrysville Star.

The forest-dwelling mammal, known as the fisher, was wiped out in Pennsylvania due to unregulated hunting and mass deforestation in the late 19th century.

Bill Powers, founder of wildlife streaming service PixCams, recently posted a fisherman’s footage and described the sighting as “like Christmas morning.”
“I pulled out the SD card last week and to my surprise it captured a photo of a fisherman in mid-June,” he continued.
The fisher is a medium-sized carnivore and the second largest member of the weasel family in Pennsylvania.
Adult males can weigh up to 15 pounds and females up to nine pounds. Males are usually longer, between 35 and 48 inches, while females are usually between 30 and 37 inches.
Surprisingly, fishermen are not named for their fishing skills, as the omnivorous member of the weasel family does not typically eat fish.
Instead, the animal was named for its similar characteristics to the European polecat, or “fitch.”
Powers described the discovery of the footage as “like Christmas morning.”