Garden dormice (Eliomys quercinus) are rodents in the dormouse family. They are named for their long, dormant hibernation period.
The Garden dormouse is gray or brown, with a whitish underside. It has black eye markings and large ears. Its hair is short, and its tail has a white tassel at the end.
Garden dormice are found in southern Europe, but their range extends into the north. They often occur in the Alps, the Bavarian Forest, the Ore Mountains and are also present in northern Germany. These little rodents live mainly in forests, but can also be found in fruit-growing regions.
Garden dormice live in trees and on the ground. They are primarily nocturnal creatures. During the day, they sleep in nests in trees, with sometimes multiple individuals living in one nest. They may hibernate for up to 7 months during during cold period of the year. Golden dormice are quite noisy and communicate with each other using whistles, growls, or snores.
Garden dormice are omnivorous. They feed on small insects and millipedes, snails slugs, fruit, and seeds. Garden dormice are amongst the most carnivorous of all dormice and have been known to consume even adult birds, reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals, some of which they likely scavenged.
Garden dormice breed from April to June. During this time, the female indicates her readiness to mate by squeaking loudly. The young are usually born in litters of 3 to 7, after a gestation period of 23 days. Blind and naked at birth, the young open their eyes after about 18 days and are nursed until they are one month old. They become independent at 2 months of age but do not reach reproductive maturity until the next year.
Garden dormice suffer from competition with the Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and the deforestation of their habitat in some areas of their native range.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Garden dormouse total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatned (NT) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are decreasing.