Date:4/1/2011

s spend looking for food for their young or it may stem from the direct energy costs of reproduction. The upshot, though, is that dormice in "good" habitats in Germany, where oaks and beech trees frequently produce seeds, live on average for less than four years while dormice in the "poorer" habitats in northern Italy live on average for more than twice as long. Perhaps because they expect to die younger, German dormice tend to have larger litters than their longer-lived Italian cousins. Even so, dormice in Germany simply do not have time to produce the same number of young in their lifetimes as dormice in Italy.

So why do dormice in the Italian Alps live for so long? As Ruf says, "we can't really explain it. Despite what we may think, differences in the climate cannot account for our results and we have no evidence to suggest that climate change is having any effect on the animals' survival. Our working hypothesis is that the major factor influencing the dormouse population is the type and number of predators. Maybe there are fewer predators in Italy or perhaps the Italian dormice have particularly successful methods for avoiding being eaten."

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Contact: Professor Thomas Ruf thomas.ruf@fiwi.at 43-148-909-15150 University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna Source:Eurekalert

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