Dormouse

Homing was studied in the Forest dormouse, Dryomys nitedula. The distance of the experimental travels of trapped and marked dormice varied between the minimum (50 m) and the maximum (10 km). Fifty-seven experimental releases were carried out. Based on the distribution of 11 animal returns, a low probability of return was revealed from a distance of up to 5 km. The expected return probability was calculated using Furrer's formula. The time of absence from a place of capture was up to four days when transferred to a distance of up to 100 m, from four to seven days when the distance was up to 1000 m, and it began to grow exponentially after a transfer to a distance of more than 1 km. The return time increased nonlinearly with the increase in the transfer distance. This suggests that the displaced animals discover their home area as a result of random walks.

Populations of the forest dormouse (Dryomys nitedula, Pallas 1778) are widespread across Europe and southwestern Asia, but their population density near human homes has is insufficient, and extremely scarce in the Russia. We studied population density of the forest dormouse in the Middle Volga, where forest dormice in 2013-2019 were recorded in 30% of investigated biotopes, being 4-70 ha in size. In Mordovia, the average densities of the local population were 2.4 ind./ha. The abundance of the local population was stable, and the sex ratio was approaching 1:1 among all individuals. One-year-old dormice comprised more than 50% of the population. Our data indicate that the home area of forest dormouse near human houses is within a radius of less than 100 m from the houses. This data is less than for the forest. This indicates that the animals next to humans artificially reduce their home area, as they are fully provided with food resources.