Garden dormouse
| Garden dormouse | ||||||||||||
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Garden dormouse |
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| Eliomys quercinus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1766) |
The garden dormouse ( Eliomys quercinus ) is a mammal from the dormouse family . Its distribution area is limited to Europe. Garden sleepers are omnivores and, despite their name, mostly live in the forest. For the species, there have been drastic populations and area reductions in the last decades, the IUCN therefore lists the garden dormouse as a type of "warning list" ( near threatened ).
features
Garden sleepers are medium-sized dormice. The head-trunk length is 100-170 mm, the tail length 80-150 mm, the length of the hind feet 22-32 mm and the ear length 20-26 mm. The animals weigh 45–140 g, before hibernation up to 210 g. The fur color on the top ranges from reddish brown to gray with a reddish brown tinge, the flanks and underside are white. A striking black mark on the head extends from the rearmost whiskers over the area around the eyes to behind and below the ears. There is a white spot in front of the ears and dark pigmentation often appears on the shoulders. The body-length, hairy tail has a long-haired end tassel and is gray-brown on the proximal half and black-brown on the distal half. The underside of the tail is white. The front feet have four pads, the rear feet have six.
distribution and habitat
The distribution area of the garden dormouse, which is divided into numerous geographically isolated occurrences towards the east, is limited to Europe. It extends in a west-east direction from southern Portugal and Brittany to the southern Urals in Russia . In a north-south direction, the area extends from central Finland to southern Spain and Sicily , and further east to southern Romania . The largest contiguous sub-area is located in south-western Europe, the north-eastern border of this sub-area runs through northern Belgium and then through Germany roughly along the line Düsseldorf , Helmstedt , the Harz and along the eastern low mountain range as far as the Lusatian highlands .
In 2015, the geographical distribution area was 49% of the area that the garden dormouse colonized in 1978. The garden dormouse is considered extinct in Lithuania, Finland and Slovakia. Belarus is also believed to be extinct. There are only single populations left in the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia. The garden dormouse is considered rare in Austria, Ukraine, Romania and Croatia, while its distribution is decreasing in Germany, Flanders, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia. It is very present in south-western Europe (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy). However, there are signs that the population is also declining in this region.
The distribution within Germany is now patchy due to the decline in the population; the garden dormouse can still be found mainly along the Rhine .
Although the German name suggests otherwise, garden dormice live mainly in deciduous and coniferous forests, especially on rocky ground; in addition, orchards and house gardens are being settled. The animals occasionally inhabit high seats and isolated buildings. The species occurs in the Pyrenees up to 2000 m altitude, in the Alps up to 2200 m altitude.
way of life
Garden sleepers are almost exclusively nocturnal. Your activity is highest just before midnight, when it is very dark, but still relatively warm. They spend the day in spherical nests, which are built in tree hollows and often in nest boxes, but also freely in bushes. The garden dormouse can also be found in attics and in summer houses. The species is more ground-dwelling than other dormice during nocturnal activity. Garden sleepers are omnivores , but at least at times they eat predominantly animal food. The diet consists of insects, worms, snails, small vertebrates and eggs, as well as fruits, seeds and buds. Garden sleepers also eat Roman snails or large slugs , which are spurned by other animals.
Reproduction takes place predominantly from May to July. During this time, the female signals her readiness to mate by loud whistling. In Central Europe there is usually only one litter a year, in Southern Europe more often two. The gestation period is 21-23 days. The litters include 1–9, mostly 4–6 young. The eyes open around 18 days of age. At around 40 days, the boys are independent. Sexual maturity is reached in the year following the birth.
The animals overwinter in tree hollows and crevices in the rock, but also in walls, buildings and caves. Hibernation lasts from October to April in central and northern Europe, and only one to two months in southern Europe.
Existence and endangerment
In the last few decades, the species has experienced significant population declines, area reductions and regional extinction in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. In the south of Spain, in the east of Germany, in the Czech Republic , in neighboring Austria and in the Baltic states, the garden dormouse is rare today. The species is extinct in the Slovak part of the Carpathian Mountains and on the Croatian mainland , the last safe observation also took place in Romania before 1988. The range has probably been reduced by more than 50% in the last 30 years, so overall the garden dormouse is probably that the most declining rodents in Europe. The reasons for this decline are not yet known. In Germany, the population decline is being investigated as part of a project from 2018 to 2024 by the Federal Environment and Nature Conservation Germany , researchers from the University of Giessen and the Senckenberg Society. Since the Western European populations are still stable, the IUCN classifies the garden dormouse as a type of the "warning list" ( near threatened ). In the Red List of Mammals in Germany, the species is classified as critically endangered. In Germany the garden dormouse is classified as a national type of responsibility within the national strategy for biological diversity of the federal government.
literature
- Stéphane Aulagnier, Patrick Haffner, Anthony J. Mitchell-Jones, François Moutou, Jan Zima: The mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The destination guide. Haupt, Bern et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-258-07506-8 , pp. 174-175.
- Anthony J. Mitchell-Jones, Giovanni Amori, Wieslaw Bogdanowicz, Boris Krystufek, PJH Reijnders, Friederike Spitzenberger, Michael Stubbe, Johan BM Thissen, Vladimiŕ Vohralik, Jan Zima: The Atlas of European Mammals. Poyser, London, 1999, ISBN 0-85661-130-1 , pp. 298-299.
- Erwin Stresemann (founder), Konrad Senglaub (ed.): Excursion fauna of Germany. Volume 3: Vertebrates. 12th, heavily edited edition. G. Fischer, Jena et al. 1995, ISBN 3-334-60951-0 , pp. 405-406.
Web links
- Eliomys quercinus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2009. Posted by: Bertolino, S., Amori, G., Henttonen, H., Zagorodnyuk, I., Zima, J., Juskaitis, R., Meinig, H. & Kryštufek, B., 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
- www.gartenschlaefer.de
- BfN: nationwide protection concept for garden sleepers
Individual evidence
- ^ The garden dormouse on the IUCN Red List, with distribution map
- ↑ Erwin Stresemann (founder), Konrad Senglaub (ed.): Excursion fauna of Germany. Volume 3: Vertebrates. 12th, heavily edited edition. 1995, pp. 405-406.
- ^ Sandro Bertolino: Distribution and status of the declining garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus . In: Mammal Review . tape 47 , no. 2 , February 27, 2017, doi : 10.1111 / mam.12087 .
- ↑ Distribution of the garden dormouse in Germany, as of 2012
- ↑ a b Madeleine Reckmann: Wiesbaden is the capital of the endangered garden dormouse. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . January 10, 2020, accessed August 4, 2020 .
- ^ Emiliano Mori, Giada Sangiovanni, Luca Corlatti: Gimme shelter: The effect of rocks and moonlight on occupancy and activity pattern of an endangered rodent, the garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus . In: Behavioral Processes . tape 170 , January 2020, p. 5 , doi : 10.1016 / j.beproc.2019.103999 .
- ↑ The garden dormouse - "Zorro" needs help! In: BUND. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Meinig, H .; Boye, P .; Dähne, M .; Hutterer, R. & Lang, J. (2020): Red List and List of Entire Species of Mammals in Germany.
- ↑ Species in special responsibility of Germany on the homepage of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, accessed on October 6, 2019