23/04/2013 00:00
TW
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STAFF REPORTER SIGHTINGS have been confirmed in the Tramuntana Mountains of one of Europe's smallest mammals, the dwarf shrew (suncus etruscus). Personnel from the regional Environment ministry, the University of Barcelona, and Spain's Nature Study Association said that the discovery of the dwarf shrew in the area of the mountain's nature reserve is a new addition to the list of Balearic wildlife. It is the first shrew to be identified on Majorca, and the third in the Balearic Islands as a whole. A spokesman for the Nature Study Association said yesterday that the dwarf shrew might in fact be the smallest mammal in Europe. Its body length is no more than three centimetres but to that has to be added it's tail which may measure between 1.5 and 2 centimetres.The ears of the shrew are prominent whilst its eyes are diminutive.


There were suspicions of its presence on Majorca as long ago as the 1950s when some German researchers found the skull of one in the digested food of an owl in the municipality of Manacor. Over the past decade, various sightings have been reported on the island and finally in March last year, the first dwarf shrews were captured in Bunyola and taken to the Ministry of the Environment. Since that time the creature has been found in a further eight municipalities. Experts believe the dwarf shrew has been recently introduced here.