Noun:
- a condition of body and mind that typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended.
- a dormouse.
Technically, this little one is in torpor, a kind of day-hibernation that occurs on the edges of their active season. It will soon go to ground properly, heading to the woodland floor to weave a tight nest about itself and disappear until March or even May.
Sleep well.
A Walk with Wildlife 
This little dormouse is so adorable, Adele. 🙂 Thanks for the smiles this morning. Love and blessings to you!
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Thank you Trudy, and same to you! I love looking for these little creatures.
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So, during torpor they are completely unconscious of about what is happening to them? Not even taking it out of nest would wake them up? Amazing!
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Yes, they are completely out of it! They aren’t handled for long on these surveys so the passing warmth from a human hand doesn’t register.
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This had me chuckling. It is SO sweet! I would love to hold this little guy just to feel how soft he is. So sweet.
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They tend to melt a lot of hearts when they are in this state!
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Like sleeping babies.
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Those photos are amazing! I love how the tail is so tightly wound to provide warmth and security. They don’t wake up at all when handled like this?
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They stay in torpor, although handling is kept short – if they were held long enough to warm up, then they might gradually waken. Just weighed, checked over and popped back into its nest 🙂
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I hope you are finding lots of healthy ones (I believe they are protected?).
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It’s been a good year in this survey site. We’ve had several litters and nursing mothers so hopefully the population is growing. But yes, they are strictly protected because they are sadly in decline nationally, mostly due to habitat loss.
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That’s good news! I hope the protections continue to help their population.
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shut eye
until the moon
wakes you once again
you lovely little
you
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Omygosh, is that adorable or what? My heart is filled!
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🙂 They are the cutest of the cute.
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What a privilege to encounter these delightful animals and how nice that the survey methods are stress free for the sleeping dormice. It is wonderful that efforts to protect them seem to helping them in your region at least.
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We’ve had a couple of good autumns with lots of berries, which will have helped. This one was practically spherical so it’s fair to say he had taken his recent feasting seriously!
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🙂
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Wish I could sleep that well! 🙂
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Wouldn’t it be nice to go into torpor once in a while!
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So beautiful! 🧡
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They really are adorable 🙂 We found some others which were more wakeful, and some yellow-necked mice, which are always in super-alert bouncy-crazy mode.
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What a cutie!
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Dreaming of hazelnuts, berries and honeysuckle!
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