Wildlife surprise: Elusive forest shrew found in Western Cape

One of the Western Cape’s most mysterious mammals, the Boosmansbos long-tailed forest shrew, has made a reappearance 46 years after it was last recorded.

- Sheree Bega

Conservationists from CapeNature, Grootvadersbosch Conservancy and Helihack, together with volunteer biologists, were “ecstatic” at finding one of these tiny mammals on the edge of a pristine forest patch in CapeNature’s Boosmansbos Wilderness Area, CapeNature said.

The shrew, first described in 1979 by scientist Nico Dippenaar, was recognised as a unique subspecies, geographically isolated from its relatives by the Gouritz Valley.

It had not been seen since 1980 and is found only in a remote afro-montane forest section of the Boosmansbos Wilderness Area. In 2016, the shrew was listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List because of its limited known range, coupled with forest habitat loss and the effects of climate change.