📸 PhotoPhoto: Frank Vassen from Brussels, Belgium · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Hazel Dormouse
Muscardinus avellanarius (Hazel Dormouse · ヨーロッパヤマネ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum weight of 30 g is about four Korean 500-won coins (about 7.7 g each), and a length of 16.5 cm is slightly longer than a smartphone (about 15 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Because of its cute appearance, it is a popular subject for postcards and greeting cards, and hazelnuts it has eaten can be recognized by their smooth, round holes (Animal Diversity Web).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Hazel Dormouse is the smallest of the European dormice and lives by climbing among trees and shrubs in deciduous forests with dense underbrush.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It has large black eyes, small round ears, and a bushy tail. Its back is brown to amber, its belly is white, and its flexible feet are well suited for climbing branches.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Active in trees at night, it eats mainly fruits and nuts along with bird eggs, insects, and pollen, and is especially fond of hazelnuts. It spends the day in a round nest about 15 cm across woven from grass and bark bound with sticky saliva, and hibernates from October to April.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2021) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13992/197519168
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1001530
- • iucnredlist.org — 197519168
- • wikidata.org — Q207148
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), Skole, Lviv
- • animaldiversity.org — Muscardinus avellanarius
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Leonardo Ancillotto · Public Domain Mark 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.