‘Extinct’ Mexican shrew rediscovered


Skull of female Nelson's small-eared shrewFrom the BBC:

‘Extinct’ tiny shrew rediscovered

Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

A tiny species of shrew has been rediscovered in the wild, more than a century after first being described.

In 1894, a handful of specimens of the Nelson’s small-eared shrew were collected in southern Mexico.

But the shrew was never seen again, and was considered by many experts to already be extinct.

That was until two researchers found three shrews in a small patch of forest, a find that is reported in the journal Mammalian Biology.

The Nelson’s small-eared shrew (Cryptotis nelsoni) is named after the man who first discovered it.

In 1894, Edward Nelson and Edward Goldman collected 12 specimens some 4,800 feet up the slopes of the San MartĂ­n Tuxtla volcano in Veracruz, Mexico.

A year later, the creature was formally described for science, and the specimens were stored away in the drawers of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, US.

That was the last time the shrew was seen alive for 109 years.

Short-tailed shrew video here.

Common shrew’s genetic superpowers make humans look like wimps: here.

1 thought on “‘Extinct’ Mexican shrew rediscovered

  1. Pingback: Shrews fighting, video | Dear Kitty. Some blog

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