These pictures give a rare insight into the secret lives of tiny harvest mice (Micromys minutus). Photographers Jean-Louis Klein and Marie-Luce Hubert spent one year photographing the adorable little creatures in a project that saw them released from captivity into the wild
(click picture to enlarge)
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| A harvest mouse seems to look directly into the camera while balancing on ears of wheat |
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| A harvest mouse balancing between two stalks of grass in a field in Alsace, France |
From the studio - where the pair documented tiny newborns and their first few weeks of life - to the great outdoors where all of the 30 mice were eventually released, the pictures take viewers through a variety of events faced by the mice
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| A female harvest mouse and her young (aged 5 days) in a nest |
Jean-Louis said: "All of the harvest mice came originally from captivity and were eventually released them into a field where we continued to photograph them, always carefully choosing a suitable habitat where we knew they could survive
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| A harvest mouse female regurgitating to feed her cubs (aged 10 days old) |
"We also wanted to show the behaviour of the animals during maternity, but we wouldn't have been able to get this in the wild without disturbing the mother and there was a danger a wild mother might have abandoned them. Instead we shot the maternal behaviour in a studio before releasing the mice once the babies were mature enough for the wild."
To demonstrate how mice often take to the water in the wet meadows they inhabit, 55-year-old Jean-Louis and 46-year-old Marie-Luce gave one of their subjects a dip in a mouse-sized aquarium before releasing it into the wild
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| a mouse swimming in the water |
The harvest mouse is the smallest European rodent. An adult can weigh as little as four grams (0.14 ounces)
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| A young harvest mouse on an ear of wheat |
"When shooting in the wild, we didn't need a hide. You just had to find a good spot, lay very still for a long time, and wait for the mice"
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| A harvest mouse drinking the dew on a blade of grass |
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| Three young harvest mice link tails while sitting on a branch... |
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...and another young mouse uses his tail to hang off theirs
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| A female harvest mouse carrying a baby to a new nest |
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| A harvest mouse peers out from a nest |
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| A harvest mouse balancing between two stalks of grass in Alsace, France, holds a grasshopper between its front paws |
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| A harvest mouse female pushing a male on a branch |
this is pretty cool!!!!
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