CROATIAN FAUNA 2003 - RODENTS - DORMOUSE (GLIS GLIS L)

The stamps have been issued in 20-stamp sheets, and there are also the commemorative First Day Cover (FDC), three maximum cards and combined booklet (6 x 2,30 HRK, 2 x 2,80 HRK and 2 x 3,50 HRK). Big or gray dormouse (Glis glis L.) The big, common or gray dormouse usually reaches the length of 15 to 20 cm, and its bushy tail is 10 to 15 cm long. The colour of the hairs on the upper side is ash gray, and white below. There is a dark ring round its eyes. The species is spread out from the Pyrenees, across central and southern Europe, down to the southern part of Asia. In Croatia it is spread out in almost all deciduous forests, from the oak forests in the valleys and plains to the mountainous beech and mixed beech and fir tree forests. It is a typical nocturnal animal. It is very voracious, feeds on fruit, berries, seeds, insects, even smaller mammals, eggs and young birds. After abundant feeding in autumn, dormice get very fat and accumulate extensive layers of fat. So, there is an appropriate folk saying “fat as a dormouse”. The dormouse is the species that hibernates all through the winter. They come out of their shelter rather late, in May. After waking up they soon mate, from June to July, and the female is pregnant between 30 to 32 days. It has its litter in the hole of a tree, there are three to four, up to 7 young, who are blind in the first three weeks and they suck for a month. After two months they become independent and reach sexual maturity when they are one year old. The gray dormouse is a veritable cult species in some parts of Croatia, particularly in part of Gorski Kotar. There are numerous stories linked to the dormouse, and hunting dormice is part of the historical and cultural tradition, and there are also dormice feasts organized. This is why we find the following verse in the folk song: “Smooth is the beech bark, and sweet the dormouse meat.”