{"id":265964,"date":"2025-07-15T04:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/265964\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T04:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:06:12","slug":"never-seen-before-creature-found-in-brits-garden-for-the-first-time-it-looks-like-a-famous-striped-sweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/265964\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Never-seen-before\u2019 creature found in Brit’s garden for the first time & it looks like a famous striped sweet"},"content":{"rendered":"

A TINY animal that looks just like a mint humbug sweet has been spotted in Britain for the first time.<\/p>\n

The creature, a pygmy shrew, was discovered near St Austell, Cornwall<\/a>, by Anita McMillan while she was out walking.<\/p>\n

\"Pygmy<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

The pygmy shrew, which weighs no more than a penny at just 2.4 to 6.1 grams, is now considered the smallest land mammal in the UKCredit: Jam Press\/Anita McMillan\"Pygmy<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

This particular shrew has a rare genetic mutation that causes white stripes or patches to appear in its fur \u2013 a condition known as partial albinism or leucismCredit: Jam Press\/Anita McMillan\"Close-up<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

The tiny creature resembles a humbug sweetCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The pygmy shrew, which weighs no more than a penny at just 2.4 to 6.1 grams, is now considered the smallest land mammal in the UK.<\/p>\n

While pygmy shrews are widespread across the country with an estimated population of several million, one with these unique markings has never been seen here before.<\/p>\n

Rare genetic fur mutation<\/strong><\/p>\n

This particular shrew has a rare genetic mutation that causes white stripes or patches to appear in its fur \u2013 a condition known as partial albinism or leucism. <\/p>\n

Normally, pygmy shrews have grey-brown fur on top and a grey underside, but this one had a distinctive striped look that resembled the traditional sweet<\/a>, a humbug.<\/p>\n

In Britain, albinism or leucism in shrews is very rare and usually only seen in the common shrew, not the pygmy variety.<\/p>\n

Anita, who is the sister of top British big cat<\/a> tracker Rhoda Watkins, said: “I thought it was unusual with the markings. It seemed happy to play in the leaves in the open for so long.<\/p>\n

“As I was a distance away with the zoom lens, it wasn’t aware of me and kept busy in the leaves.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t until I shared the picture with my sister that I realised it was very special. <\/p>\n

“She is into wildlife<\/a> tracking and prompted me to contact the Cornwall Mammal Group for an identification.”<\/p>\n

Experts were stunned by the sighting. <\/p>\n

Matt Larsen-Daw, CEO of the Mammal Society, said: \u201cAs far as we know, this is the first pygmy shrew with this distinctive patterning ever recorded in the British Isles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPygmy shrews are an important part of our ecosystems. <\/p>\n

They eat over 250 prey items in a single day \u2013 up to 125 per cent of their body weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pygmy shrew may be small, but this rare striped example is making a big impression among wildlife experts.<\/p>\n

\"Pygmy<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Spotted by sister of top big cat trackerCredit: Jam Press\/Anita McMillan\"Pygmy<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

One with these unique markings has never been seen here beforeCredit: Jam Press\/Anita McMillan\"Pygmy<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

They eat over 250 prey items in a single day \u2013 up to 125 per cent of their body weightCredit: Jam Press\/Anita McMillan\"Pygmy<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Experts were stunned by the sightingCredit: Jam Press\/Derek Crawley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A TINY animal that looks just like a mint humbug sweet has been spotted in Britain for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[933,5023,393,257,70,10284,16,15,1764,1717,10154],"class_list":{"0":"post-265964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-cornwall","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-trends","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales","17":"tag-wildlife","18":"tag-wildlife-and-nature"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114855279852598843","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}