The secret life of the harvest mouse: cute pictures by Jean-Louis Klein and Marie-Luce Hubert
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These pictures give a rare insight into the secret lives of tiny harvest mice (Micromys minutus). Photographers Jean-Louis Klein and Marie-Luce Hubert spent one year photographing the adorable little creatures in a project that saw them released from captivity into the wild
A harvest mouse balancing between two stalks of grass in a field in Alsace, France
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Waiting patiently in meadows and reed beds close to their home in Alsace, France, the pair were able to capture some extremely cute moments
A harvest mouse seems to look directly into the camera while balancing on ears of wheat
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From the studio - where the pair documented tiny newborns and their first few weeks of life - to the great outdoors where all of the 30 mice were eventually released, the pictures take viewers through a variety of events faced by the mice
A female harvest mouse and her young (aged 5 days) in a nest
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Jean-Louis said: "All of the harvest mice came originally from captivity and were eventually released them into a field where we continued to photograph them, always carefully choosing a suitable habitat where we knew they could survive
A harvest mouse female regurgitating to feed her cubs (aged 10 days old)
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"We also wanted to show the behaviour of the animals during maternity, but we wouldn't have been able to get this in the wild without disturbing the mother and there was a danger a wild mother might have abandoned them. Instead we shot the maternal behaviour in a studio before releasing the mice once the babies were mature enough for the wild.
To demonstrate how 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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The harvest mouse is the smallest European rodent. An adult can weigh as little as four grams (0.14 ounces)
A young harvest mouse on an ear of wheat
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"When shooting in the wild, we didn't need a hide. You just had to find a good spot, lay very still for a long time, and wait for the mice"
A harvest mouse drinking the dew on a blade of grass
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Three young harvest mice link tails while sitting on a branch...
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...and another young mouse uses his tail to hang off theirs
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A female harvest mouse carrying a baby to a new nest
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A harvest mouse leaps through the air in autumn
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A harvest mouse peers out from a nest
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A harvest mouse balancing between two stalks of grass in Alsace, France, holds a grasshopper between its front paws
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A harvest mouse female pushing a male on a branch
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A male harvest mouse on canary grass in front of a spider's web
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A harvest mouse female and young on plant stems
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A harvest mouse is pictured among wheat and poppies
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