Photographer Captures Adorable Pictures of Harvest Mice Curling Up in Colorful Tulips

(Caters News)

As we face unprecedented times, it’s good to remind ourselves of all the beauty nature has to offer us. So what better way to do that than by taking a moment to admire these adorable harvest mice exploring gorgeous tulips.

UK photographer Miles Herbert has captured a series of pictures of the mischievous mice exploring tulips and getting their noses covered in pollen over the years. Herbert explained according to The Daily Mail in 2017, “It’s always a pleasure watching these endearing little creatures as they go about their business.”

Harvest mice tiptoeing in tulips was captured in 2018. (Caters News)

Herbert’s passion to shoot Eurasian harvest mice (Micromys minutus) is due to their incredibly playful and occasionally destructive nature. Additionally, it is also because of their unique anatomy.

“Harvest mice are the smallest mammals in Europe that have a prehensile tail,” Herbert said.

(Caters News)

In his series of pictures that he has captured over the years, the mice are spotted curling their bodies in strikingly colored beautiful tulip blooms. Surprisingly, although these tulips look fragile, they are able to have the strength to welcome and hold these cute animals, which measure up to 2–3 inches.

The photographer further explained that the harvest mice have a lot of fun and get a snack at the same time. “The mice love to eat the stamens and nectar from the flowers and enjoy climbing in and out of the tulips.”

(Caters News)

In Herbert’s pictures, some of the mice use their long tails to get a grip and make their way around the flowers to get at the stamens. A couple of the harvest mice have climbed inside the tulip flowers, which happen to make a perfect cozy bed for them to relax on and probably take a little nap.

(Caters News)

“Watching and photographing” these tiny little adventurers frolic among the flowers or sheaves of wheat “is absolutely fascinating and only slightly addictive,” Herbert said, according to The Daily Mail. Though these mice were photographed in controlled conditions indoors, the photographer told Bored Panda that “[t]here is also an option to photograph animals outside if the client wishes, our other specialty is frogs!”

For those who worry about where the mice come from and how they’re treated, it is known that they are well taken care of. “Nearly all the animals we photograph are captive bred, the mice are bred to release into the wild at a local nature reserve—we prefer to use captive-bred animals rather than disturbing wild populations,” Herbert said.

These harvest mice hiding in tulips by photographer Miles Herbert in spring 2019. (Caters News)

Herbert, who runs Captivelight, conducts workshops and animal-photography classes for people who are interested in capturing “birds of prey, reptiles, frogs and other beasties.” According to the website, Liberty’s Owl, Raptor And Reptile Centre provide them with the animals and the expertise to hold their special animal-photography workshop at their premises, where there is an all-purpose-built indoor-photography studio.

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