Garden dormouse are on the Red List of Threatened Species. In autumn, the animals prepare for hibernation. Some of them could not wake up in the spring.
Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) - It is nocturnal and threatened with extinction: the garden dormouse. The fact that the rodent hibernates could further reduce its population. That's what conservationists and scientists fear, who have been studying the living conditions of the garden dormouse nationwide. They found out that the animals often find too little food to eat enough bacon and thus energy for hibernation.
Garden dormouse feed on insects. "If there is a lack of beetles, caterpillars and other insects in the summer, it will be difficult for the garden dormouse to survive the winter," explained Susanne Steib from the Hessian BUND on Friday. BUND tracked down the garden dormouse together with the Justus Liebig University in Gießen and the Senckenberg Society for Natural Research (Frankfurt). The multi-year project was financed with money from the Federal Environment Ministry.
In addition to the lack of food, warmer winters exacerbated the situation. With mild temperatures, the animals woke up more frequently, which further drained the reserves. In the spring they are then too weak to survive. According to the study, this is one of the reasons why the garden dormouse population is at risk.
According to Steib, habitats in the Rhine-Main area, in Cologne, in the Harz Mountains and in the Fichtelgebirge were analyzed. In the low mountain ranges "the situation is much more critical than in the cities," said Steib. There, the rodents would also find food in parks and allotments. In contrast, many animals have already disappeared in the low mountain ranges. It is not known how large the population of garden dormouse, which is related to edible dormouse, actually is.
