Garden dormouse

[citation needed] In spite of its name, the garden dormouse's main habitat is the forest, though it can also be found in fruit-growing regions.

In the Netherlands, it is almost extirpated: in 2007, researchers reported finding only nine animals in two woods in the province of Limburg, where it used to be common.

[2] To draw attention to the limits of the adaptability,[3] the Swiss nature conservation organisation Pro Natura has named the garden dormouse "Animal of the Year" in 2022.

[6] Garden dormice are omnivorous, seasonally consuming both small animals—typically arthropods such as insects and millipedes, as well as gastropods like snails and slugs—and plant matter, usually fruit and seeds.

[11] The populations of western Asia and north Africa, on the other hand, have recently been separated into their own species, Eliomys melanurus.

A garden dormouse
The luminescence of a hibernating garden dormouse photographed from the dorsal and ventral sides. The images were taken under visible light, UV light and UV light with a yellow filter which removes residual light in blue wavelengths. In normal light conditions, the dormouse has brown fur with a white underside but displays bright pink fluorescence under UV light that looks reddish under UV light through a yellow filter. The dormouse's skin, nose and feet show a greenish-blue and its tail only green fluorescence.
Sleeping garden dormouse in empty bird's nest in Cologne , Germany