Dormouse

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Dormouse

Dormice are rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an Order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing Incisors#The_Rodent_incisor in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
Gliridae. (This family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are mostly found in Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, although some live in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. They are particularly known for their long periods of hibernation

Hibernation

Hibernation is a state of inactivity and Metabolism depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate....
. Because only one species of dormouse is native to the British Isles

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands....
, in everyday English usage "dormouse" usually refers to this species (the Hazel Dormouse

Hazel Dormouse

The Hazel Dormouse or Common Dormouse is a small mammal. It is the only living species current classified in the genus Muscardinus....
) rather than to the family as a whole.

ice are small for rodents, with a body length of between , and weighing between .

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Characteristics

Dormice are small for rodents, with a body length of between , and weighing between . They are generally mouse

Mouse

A mouse is a small animal that belongs to one of numerous species of rodents. The best known mouse species is the House Mouse . It is also a popular pet....
-like in appearance, but with fur

Fur

Fur is a Hair of any non-human mammal, also known as the pelage. It may consist of short ground hair, long guard hair, and, in some cases, medium awn hair....
red, rather than scaly, tail

Tail

The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals and birds....
s. They are largely but not exclusively arboreal

Arboreal

Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or Shrubes....
animals, and are agile and well adapted to climbing. Most species are nocturnal. Dormice have an excellent sense of hearing

Hearing

Hearing may refer to:* Hearing , the sense by which sound is perceived* Hearing , a person who has hearing within normal parameters* Hearing , a legal proceeding before a court or other decision making body or officer...
, and signal each other with a range of different vocalisations.

Dormice are omnivorous

Omnivore

Omnivores are species that eating both plants and animals as their primary food source. They are opportunistic, general feeders not specifically adapted to eat and digest either meat or plant material exclusively....
, typically feeding on fruits, berries, flowers, nuts and insects. Dormice are unique among rodents in that they lack a cecum

Cecum

The cecum or caecum is a pouch connected to the ascending colon of the large intestine and the ileum. It is separated from the ileum by the ileocecal valve or Bauhin's valve, and is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine....
, a part of the gut used in other species to ferment vegetable matter. Their dental formula

Dentition

Dentition is the tooth development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth.All mammals except the monotremes, the xenarthrans, the pangolins, and the cetaceans have up to four distinct types of teeth, with a maximum number for each....
is similar to that of squirrel

Squirrel

File:Eichh?rnchen D?sseldorf Hofgarten edit.jpgA squirrel is one of many small or medium-sized rodents in the family Sciuridae. In the English language-speaking world, squirrel commonly refers to members of this family's genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus, which are tree squirrels with large bushy tails, indigenous to Asia, the America...
s, although they often lack premolar

Premolar

The premolar teeth or bicuspids are transitional teeth located between the Canine_tooth and Molar_ teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant, making eight premolars total in the mouth....
s:

Dormice breed once or twice a year, producing litters with an average of four young after a gestation

Gestation

Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during mammalian pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
period of 21-32 days. They can live for as long as five years. The young are born hairless, and helpless, and their eyes do not open until about eighteen days after birth. They typically become sexually mature after the end of their first hibernation. Dormice live in small family groups, with home ranges that vary widely between species, and depending on the availability of food.

Hibernation

One of the most notable characteristics of those dormice that live in temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold....
zones is hibernation

Hibernation

Hibernation is a state of inactivity and Metabolism depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate....
. Dormice can hibernate six months out of the year, or even longer if the weather remains sufficiently cool, sometimes waking for brief periods to eat food they had previously stored nearby. During the summer, they accumulate fat

Fat

Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. Chemistry, fats are generally ester of glycerol and fatty acids....
in their bodies, to nourish them through the hibernation period.

It is from this trait that they got their name, which comes from Anglo-Norman

Anglo-Norman language

The Anglo-Norman language is a term traditionally used to refer to the variety of French used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles following the Norman conquest in 1066....
dormeus, which means "sleepy (one)"; the word was later altered by folk etymology to resemble the word "mouse". The sleepy behaviour of the Dormouse character in Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll , was an England author, mathematics, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer....
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a novel written by England author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a Rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures....
also attests to this trait.

Relationship with Man
The edible species
Edible dormouse

The edible dormouse or fat dormouse is a small dormouse and the only species in the genus Glis. It was farmed and Roman cuisine, from which it gains its name....
was considered a delicacy in ancient Rome
Roman cuisine

Roman cuisine changed over the long duration of their Ancient Rome. These Habit were affected by the influence of Ancient Greece culture, the political changes from kingdom to republic to empire, and the enormous expansion of the empire which brought many new culinary habits and cooking techniques from the provinces....
, either as a savoury appetizer or as a dessert (dipped in honey and poppy seeds). The Romans had a special kind of enclosure known as glirarium used to rear dormice for the table. Dormice to this day are eaten in Croatia and Slovenia.

Evolution
Currently, the earliest fossil evidence of dormouse species comes from Europe in the early Eocene
Eocene

The Eocene Geologic time scale is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Palaeogene period in the Cenozoic era....
. They appear in Africa in the upper Miocene
Miocene

The Miocene is a Geologic time scale of the Neogene period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are uncertain....
and only relatively recently in Asia. Many types of extinct dormouse species have been identified. During the Pleistocene
Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 1.8 million to 10,000 years Before Present covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
, giant dormice the size of large rats, such as Leithia melitensis, lived on the islands of Malta
Malta

Malta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed country European microstates microstate in the European Union....
and Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
.

Classification
The family consists of 34 living species, in three subfamilies and (arguably) 10 genera:

Family: Gliridae

Subfamily Graphiurinae

Genus Graphiurus
Graphiurus

The African dormice, Graphiurus, are a genus of dormouse that live throughout sub-Saharan Africa in a variety of habitats. They are very agile climbers and have bushy tails....
(African dormouse)

Species Graphiurus angolensis
Graphiurus angolensis

The Angolan African Dormouse is a species of rodent in the Gliridae family. It is Endemism to Angola.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests....
, (Angolan African dormouse)
Species Graphiurus christyi (Christy's Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus crassicaudatus (Jentink's Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus johnstoni
Graphiurus johnstoni

The Johnston's African Dormouse is a species of rodent in the Gliridae family. It is found in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is moist savanna....
(Johnston's African dormouse)
Species Graphiurus kelleni (Kellen's Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus lorraineus (Lorrain Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus microtis (Small-eared Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus monardi (Monard's Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus murinus (Woodland Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus nagtglasii
Graphiurus nagtglasii

The Nagtglas's African Dormouse is a species of rodent in the Gliridae family. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and possibly Gabon....
(Nagtglas's African dormouse)
Species Graphiurus ocularis (Spectacled Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus platyops (Rock Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus rupicola (Stone Dormouse)
Species Graphiurus surdus (Silent Dormouse)

Subfamily Leithiinae
Leithiinae

Leithiinae is a subfamily of dormouse....

Genus Chaetocauda

Species Chaetocauda sichuanensis (Chinese Dormouse)

Genus Dryomys

Species Dryomys laniger (Woolly Dormouse)
Species Dryomys niethammeri (Niethammer's forest dormouse)
Species Dryomys nitedula (Forest Dormouse)

Genus Eliomys
Eliomys

Eliomys is a genus of rodent in the Gliridae family.It contains the following species:* Asian Garden Dormouse * Maghreb Garden Dormouse ...
(Garden dormice)

Species Eliomys melanurus (Asian Garden Dormouse)
Species Eliomys munbyanus (Maghreb garden dormouse)
Species Eliomys quercinus (Garden Dormouse)
** Genus Hypnomys† (Balearic dormouse - extinct)
Species Hypnomys morphaeus†
Species Hypnomys mahonensis†

Genus Muscardinus

Species Muscardinus avellanarius (Hazel Dormouse)

Genus Myomimus
Myomimus

Myomimus is a genus of rodent in the Gliridae family.It contains the following species:* Masked Mouse-tailed Dormouse * Mouse-tailed Dormouse ...
(Mouse-tailed dormouse)

Species Myomimus personatus (Masked Mouse-tailed Dormouse)
Species Myomimus roachi (Roach's Mouse-tailed Dormouse)
Species Myomimus setzeri (Setzer's Mouse-tailed Dormouse)

Genus Selevinia

Species Selevinia betpakdalaensis (Desert Dormouse)

Subfamily Glirinae
Glirinae

Glirinae is a subfamily of dormice .It contains two genera, Glirulus and Glis. These each have one species, respectively Glirulus japonicus, the Japanese dormouse, and Glis glis, the edible dormouse....

Genus Glirulus

Species Glirulus japonicus (Japanese Dormouse)

Genus Glis

Species Glis glis (Edible Dormouse)

Fossil species

Subfamily Bransatoglirinae

Genus Oligodyromys

External links

(English and German)