Monday, February 20, 2006

We found a Garden Dormouse

We found this little chap hibernating in a plan chest in the cabin at Bas Etang 2. He was rather surprised to be woken, but soon regained his composure. His latin name is Eliomys Quercinus, but I guess he doesn't know it. Here is some information I have found on him at the Animal Diversity site:
It has a body length of 100 to 175 mm. The tail length is 90 to 135 mm, and the body mass is from 45 to 120 g. Eliomys quercinus has a long, bushy tail. The tails of European dormice have brown, black and white coloration on them. Asian and African specimens have black and white tails. Garden dormice have short fur except for the tail. The fur on the upper surface of dormice may be any color of gray or brown. The underside may show white or cream coloration. There are black markings on the face of garden dormice. This characteristic is used to distinguish this species from other species such as hazel dormice. The black stripe goes from the nose to behind the ear.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Chipmunks look like miniature squirrels. I don't think this is one.

Borzou