Native to northern Europe and Asia Minor, it is also the only native species of sleeping mouse in the British Isles, the hazelnut mouse was originally a wild creature, but it is also used as a pet. Have a habit of hibernation.
Chinese name: Hazel Sleeper Mouse
English name: Hazel dormouse
Scientific name: Muscardinus avellanarius
world
Animal kingdom Animalia
door
Chordata
class
Mammalia
eye
Rodentia
suborder
Squirrel suborder Sciuromorpha
section
Virgulaceae
subfamily
Subfamily Leithiinae
genus
Hazel rat genus Muscardinus
seed
Hazel sleeper M. avellanarius
Hazel rats are small in size, 6–9 cm long and 5.7 –7.5 cm long in the tail. He was covered in golden brown hair, a pair of large brown eyes, and a large furry tail.
Sleeping rats are not actually rodents, but only close relatives of the family Rodentidae. They are very suitable for living in trees, with front and back paws being able to grasp branches, and small foot pads can also help them. The sleeping mouse's tail is distinctive and can help it maintain balance in its body.
Hazel rats have a habit of hibernating, usually starting in October of each year and ending in April to May of the following year. Hazelnut rats usually weigh only 17-20 grams, but before hibernation, they can weigh up to 30-40 grams.
During hibernation, the metabolic function of sleeping mice slows down. Its breathing and heartbeat weakened, its body temperature dropped, and it took twelve hours and great stress to return to normal.
Researchers found that sleeping mice can not take in enough food in the autumn, so they have to go into hibernation hungry; due to the lack of sufficient energy in the body, sleeping mice often die of hunger during long sleep, resulting in a large number of sleeping mice, and the number is rapidly decreasing.
Hibernation is a life-and-death test for sleeping mice, with about 80 percent of sleeping rats dying during hibernation.
Hazel sleepers usually live mainly on hazelnuts, blackberries, roses, elderberries and various street trees, but also rely on hawthorn and black plum trees to inhabit the dense foliage.
Hazel sleeper rats have a unique set of skills to eat nuts. It holds the fruit with its front paws and turns it slowly while biting the shell open with its lower teeth. Sleeping mouse has strong incisors that allow it to easily bite open the hard shell of the nut. Then, with the help of the tongue, the nuts were pulled out little by little. On the bite-opened husk, the cracks are clear and smooth.
Hazelnut rats have eaten fruit shells
Hazelnut rats are native to northern Europe and Asia Minor. It is also the only native species of sleeping mouse in the British Isles, and was the only species until the invasion of edible sleeping mice. Therefore, the sleeping mouse mentioned in the English literature generally refers to the hazel sleeping mouse.