Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - The garden dormouse, which is mainly native to the southwest, has been chosen by the German Wildlife Foundation as "Animal of the Year 2023". The rodent, which is only about the size of a fist with the characteristic eye mask, is listed as "endangered" on the Red List of Threatened Species in Germany, the foundation announced on Tuesday. The species was originally at home in many low mountain ranges rich in structure and rock. In these natural habitats you can now only find them in the Black Forest, in the Harz Mountains and in Bavaria.
The garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) is one of the bilchen, which are also represented in Germany with edible dormouse, dormouse and tree dormouse. He likes to live in parks and gardens - these are also his main areas of distribution in southwest Germany, as the foundation announced. "There he hides in hedges, crevices in walls, sheds or nesting boxes." The nocturnal climber hibernates for around six months, after which his body temperature drops to a record-breaking minus one degree. The animals are easy to recognize by their "Zorro mask", a black band around their eyes and ears.
"The "animal of the year" is well chosen," says the Baden-Württemberg Nabu species protection officer Felicitas Rechtenwald. The garden dormouse benefits both from the near-natural management of the forests and older trees with many cavities and from the preservation of valuable orchard stocks. "If he has made himself comfortable in a bird's nest box as a sublet, he should be tolerated," she recommends. Death traps for the garden dormouse can include uncovered rain barrels and vine and fruit nets in which to become tangled and starve.
Overall, however, the distribution area of the garden dormouse in Europe has shrunk by almost half in the last 30 years, according to the Wildlife Foundation. The election for "Animal of the Year" should draw attention to the endangered species.
