Forest dormouse is a rodent belonging to the family of dormice. This tiny mammal has a beautiful, long and fluffy tail. This mobile little animal lives mainly in bushy thickets.
Description
Dormouse at the same time looks like a squirrel and a mouse. The animal’s favorite pastime is tree climbing. The color, size, appearance and behavior depend on the area in which the dormouse settles. Forest dormouse is a small animal that has the following characteristics:
- the body is oblong;
- narrow head and sharp muzzle;
- dark, round eyes, strongly marked on the face with a characteristic shine;
- ears are oval and large in size.
Forest dormouse is distinguished by its cleanliness and carefully takes care of its body. She is able to sit for several hours and comb out the villi of her tail and carefully sort them out.
Appearance
The length of the body of a forest dormouse can be from 6 to 12 centimeters. The tail is almost the same length as the torso. The hair on the tail is larger than on the body. The tail is for balancing. It plays the role of a steering wheel when moving the dormouse along the branches of bushes and trees.
An interesting fact: when the forest dormouse is not disturbed by anything, the hair on the tail is smooth. With impending danger, the hairs on the tail rise, and the animal appears to be larger in size.
The vibrissae located on the muzzle of the forest dormouse are designed for better orientation in the surrounding world. As a result of the contraction of the muscles under the skin of the face, each antenna is able to make a separate movement.
Features of the structure of the legs of the forest dormouse:
- legs are short and thin;
- four toes on the front legs;
- there are five toes on the hind legs.
With the help of flexible fingers, the forest dormouse clings to branches and easily climbs over bushes and trees. The soles of the paws of the animal are provided with convex calluses. Each has six pieces.
The hair on the body of a small rodent is evenly distributed. In the chest area and in the throat area, the pile is of a grayish-yellow hue, and on the back it has a brownish-reddish color. The muzzle is divided by a black-brown stripe running from the ear to the nose. There are 20 teeth in the mouth of a small rodent.
Where dwells
Forest sleepyheads are numerous, there are 28 species. These animals inhabit the forest zones of the following regions:
- European countries;
- Central Asia;
- China;
- northern Africa;
- Kazakhstan;
- Japan;
- the middle zone and the west of the European region of Russia.
The diet
The forest dormouse is a nocturnal animal. In the daytime she sleeps off, and in the evening she devotes to the search for food. The food of the forest dormouse is varied. Her diet consists of:
- from fruits of forest trees and their seeds;
- berries, nuts, acorns;
- rose hips and hawthorn fruits;
- bark of shoots of bushes and trees and buds;
- insects;
- snails, worms, molluscs.
Having met a bird’s nest, in which there are eggs or chicks, the rodent will eat them without hesitation. Forest dormouse has very good hearing. She can easily catch the quiet sounds of moving snails, worms, insects. Sonya freezes for a second, determines where the sound is heard from, moves quickly in that direction, and overtakes her prey. Forest dormouse will not hesitate to dine with other, smaller rodents or a small lizard.
Lifestyle
Forest dormouse lives in bushes or trees. She especially likes thickets and hollow trees. For habitation, the forest dormouse chooses abandoned bird nests or hollows in the trees. She can evict the birds living there from the nest or hollow.
Sometimes the forest dormouse builds its own housing on its own. She makes the frame from flexible branches. Then he covers it with grass, fluff, dry leaves. The house is being built in thickets of thorny bushes, which allows protection from predators. Forest dormouse in a businesslike manner equips the interior of the housing, laying down, dry grass, wool in it. In the vicinity, where one rodent lives, 7-8 houses can be found. The forest dormouse leaves the clogged nest and settles in another.
For the winter, the forest dormouse builds its shelter at a depth of about 30 centimeters from the surface of the earth. When winter comes, the animal hibernates.
By the winter period, the dormouse accumulates subcutaneous fat, and the weight doubles. During hibernation, body temperature decreases. In summer it can be about 38 degrees, and in winter it drops to 3-5 degrees. If the forest dormouse wakes up, and it is still cold outside, she again dives into her shelter and falls asleep.
Forest dormouse usually settles in bushes and forests, but sometimes it can take a fancy to a place in a garden or park. Her lifestyle can be:
- ground;
- woody-ground;
- woody.
The forest dormouse leads an active life at night. She lives alone, and families are created only for the mating period.
Reproduction
Having woken up from winter sleep, the forest dormouse is looking for a partner for family life. Males wake up earlier than females. They start running along the branches of bushes and trees, leaving marks everywhere. Later, females leave their winter shelters. They attract the attention of males with special sounds, then look for the places of their marks and leave their own on them.
The female walks pregnant for about twenty-eight days. During this period, she landscapes her home:
- makes a fix;
- throws away unnecessary;
- replaces worn-out parts;
- prepares a place for the kids.
Females evict males from the nest before the birth of babies in one day. Family life ends there. Usually females reproduce offspring once a year. The female sometimes gives birth to up to eight cubs. When naked, pink babies are born, the forest dormouse constantly licks and cuddles them. Fifteen days later, babies open their eyes, and fluff appears on the body. The female leaves her babies for a short while in order to have a snack.
If the cub accidentally falls out of the nest, then the mother immediately finds it and returns it to its place. When the baby of the forest dormouse is 1.5 months old, he becomes independent. Some of the cubs stay in the nest. If there is enough food in the area, then they all live together.
Forest sleepyheads – video
