Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Secret Life of the Harvest Mice

Photographers Jean-Louis Klein and Marie-Luce Hubert, both from the Alsace, France, spent the year snapping the elusive harvest mice in a project that ended with their release into the wild. Laying patiently in meadows and reed beds, the pair were able to capture the fascinating images. A stunning and rare insight into the secret tiny lives of adorable harvest mice is revealed in incredible pictures captured painstakingly over 12 months.

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An inquisitive mouse balances on two ears of wheat to take a close look at one of the cameras


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A harvest mouse uses all four legs and its tail to steady itself on two stalks of grass
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Another one snares a cicada in the reed beds of Alsace, France
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A harvest mouse wraps its tail around a plant stem to help it balance while it investigates
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A female harvest mouse rolls her baby carefully up a plant stem towards her nest
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To demonstrate how the 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 cobweb creates a stunning backdrop for a male perched on canary grass
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A harvest mouse keeps watch from the safety of its nest made from Phragmites reeds 
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Inside her nest, a female regurgitates to feed her ten-day-old babies
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An adventurous young mouse getting into an unusual position - hanging from the tails of three of its siblings.
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Harvest mice are extremely agile creatures. Here is one effortlessly climbing down a wheat stalk
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A mouse licking drops of water off a leaf
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A harvest mouse uses the head of another to support himself as it examines some interesting object in the distance.
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Two harvest mice play with each other.
Photos: BARCROFT MEDIA

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