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For Lewis Carroll's fictional character, see Dormouse (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).
Temporal range: Early Eocene–Recent
Graphiurus spec -murinus-1.jpg
African dormouse, Graphiurus sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Suborder: Sciuromorpha
Family: Gliridae
Muirhead in Brewster, 1819
Subfamilies and Genera




The dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are mostly found in Europe, although some live in Africa and Asia. They are particularly known for their long periods of hibernation. Because only one species of dormouse is native to the British Isles, in everyday English usage dormouse can refer either to that one species (the hazel dormouse) or to the family as a whole.


Dormice are small rodents, with body lengths between 6 and 19 cm (2.4 and 7.5 in), and weights between 15 and 180 g (0.53 and 6.35 oz).[citation needed] They are generally mouse-like in appearance, but with furred, rather than scaly tails. They are largely but not exclusively arboreal, agile, and well adapted to climbing. Most species are nocturnal. Dormice have an excellent sense of hearing, and signal each other with a variety of vocalisations.[1]



Dormice breed once or occasionally twice a year, producing litters with an average of four young after a gestation period of 22–24 days. They can live for as long as five years. The young are born hairless and helpless, and their eyes do not open until about 18 days after birth. They typically become sexually mature after the end of their first hibernation. Dormice live in small family groups, with home ranges that vary widely between species, and depend on the availability of food.[1]



Their name is based on this trait; it comes from Anglo-Norman dormeus, which means "sleepy (one)"; the word was later altered by folk etymology to resemble the word "mouse". The sleepy behaviour of the dormouse character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland shows this was a familiar trait of dormice.

Relationship with humans[edit]

The edible dormouse was considered a delicacy in ancient Rome, either as a savoury appetizer or as a dessert (dipped in honey and poppy seeds). The Romans used a special kind of enclosure, a glirarium to rear dormice for the table.[1] Dormice to this day are hunted and eaten in Slovenia. It is also considered a delicacy in several places in Croatia, namely Lika, and islands of Hvar and Brač.[2][3] Dormouse fat was used by the Elizabethans to induce sleep.[4]




The family consists of 29 living species, in three subfamilies and (arguably) 9 genera:


Fossil species[edit]


  1. ^ a b c d Baudoin, Claude (1984). Macdonald, D., ed. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. pp. 678–680. ISBN 0-87196-871-1. 
  2. ^ Freedman, Paul. "Meals that Time Forgot",, March 2008.
  3. ^ "Fifth Puhijada".
  4. ^ "10 ways to get a really good sleep", BBC News Magazine, 27 March 2009.
  5. ^ Storch, G. & Seiffert, C. (2007). "Extraordinarily preserved specimen of the oldest known glirid from the middle Eocene of Messel (Rodentia)". Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 27 (1): 189–194. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[189:EPSOTO]2.0.CO;2. 
  6. ^ Savage, RJG; Long, MR (1986). Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide. New York: Facts on File. p. 119. ISBN 0-8160-1194-X. 
  7. ^ Holden, Mary Ellen and Levine, Rebecca S (2009). "Chapter 9. Systematic Revision of Sub-Saharan African Dormice (Rodentia: Gliridae: Graphiurus) Part II: Description of a New Species of Graphiurus from the Central Congo Basin, Including Morphological and Ecological Niche Comparisons with G. crassicaudatus and G. lorraineus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 331: 314–355. doi:10.1206/582-9.1. 

Further reading[edit]


External links[edit]