The Mount Lyell shrew (''Sorex lyelli'') is a species of
mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
in the family
Soricidae. It is named for
Mount Lyell in
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...
, the area where the shrew has been most commonly found.
Range
It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to a small area of the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
The range is located in
Fresno
Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
,
Mariposa,
Mono
Mono may refer to:
Biology
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monocyte, a type of leukocyte (white blood cell)
* Monodactylidae, members of which are referred to as monos
Technology and computing
* Mono (audio), single-c ...
, and
Tuolumne counties between an elevation of . It is typically found in
sub-alpine
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...
riparian
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...
areas near fast-running streams.
Description
The shrew is between long
and weighs .
It has 32 teeth.
Observations
In November 2024 it was photographed alive for the first time, 100 years after its discovery, by a team of student researchers from the
California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, that is among the largest List of natural history museums, museums of natural history in the world, housing over ...
. The team, consisting of Vishal Subramanyan, Prakrit Jain, and Harper Forbes, captured images of the elusive mammal in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.
In November 2024, researchers from UC Berkeley and the University of Arizona captured the first live photographs of the Mount Lyell shrew in its natural habitat, providing new insights into its ecology and distribution.
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References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1766571
Sorex
Fauna of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Endemic fauna of California
Endemic mammals of the United States
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Mammals described in 1902
12. [Jain, P., Subramanyan, V., & Forbes, H. (2024). First photographic documentation and habitat observations of the Mount Lyell shrew (Sorex lyelli). Journal of Mammalogy, 105(5), 1234-1240.]