Red List of South African Species

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Least Concern (LC)

Rationale

The Woodland Dormouse is listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution within the assessment region and presumed large population. It is present in many protected areas, and can co-occur with human habitation. Although the species is thought to occur in naturally low numbers, it is not suspected to be declining as there are no major threats. As this rodent is arboreal, it is difficult to trap on the ground, and thus may be more abundant than expected. For future surveys, it is recommended that traps are set in trees. This species may have to be reassessed as the species complex is disentangled through ongoing molecular work.

Regional population effects: Unless conditions are favourable, this species may occur in low numbers across the central, eastern and northern parts of the assessment area. Where it occurs in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, immigration is expected where continuous woodland is found or where patchy woodlands are connected by riverine forests or similar wooded corridors.

Distribution

The Woodland Dormouse has a scattered distribution that stretches from Ethiopia to South Africa (reaching as far west as the Western Cape) and Lesotho. Within the assessment region, it ranges across Limpopo, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape provinces and marginally into the Western and Northern Cape. It also occurs in Swaziland (Monadjem 1998) and Lesotho (Lynch 1994).

Within the North West Province, only one individual was captured recently (post-2000), which was taken in Terminalia sericea woodland near Mositha in the Mafikeng Bushveld vegetation type (Power 2014). However, numerous dead specimens were found throughout the province as Woodland Dormice often nest in electrical switchboxes and sometimes die when in torpor.

Population trend

Trend

This species is thought to generally occur at low densities, although these can vary drastically where the species experiences “boom and bust” cycles, possibly in response to variations in rainfall and food availability. In the Great Fish River Nature Reserve (GFRNR), Eastern Cape, densities have been estimated to vary between 2 and 16 individuals / ha depending on the season and year (Madikiza 2010; Z.J.K. Madikiza pers. obs. 2006–2012) in riverine Combretum forests, where it can be the dominant small mammal. It is, however, unclear whether the presence of wooden nest boxes at the study site might have improved nesting conditions and offspring survival (Madikiza et al. 2010a), hence leading to overall higher densities than usual. Woodland Dormice exhibit low densities in Telperion Nature Reserve (Mpumalanga) in areas where large rocks are present, but have been recorded from various accommodation units at the study site (MacFadyen 2014).

Although it has been noted that this species is seldom caught in traps and is more commonly recorded from houses, it is likely because in most studies traps were set on the ground and not on logs or in trees. In GFRNR, Madikiza et al. (2010b) did not make a single capture on the ground, either inside or outside the riverine forest, during a 13-month period. In contrast, trapping success in trees averaged 13.3 captures per 100 trap nights, with a minimum average of 5.1 captures in winter and a maximum average of 19.0 captures in summer. In a subsequent study in the same area, Lamani (2014) only recorded 10% of captures on the ground over the four seasons of the year.

Threats

There are no major threats to this species. However, habitat loss and fragmentation from mining and agriculture is likely to cause local subpopulation declines. This species is unlikely to persist in agricultural monocultures with few or no trees. In transformed areas, it is only likely to remain within the rocky, inaccessible habitats, which are unsuitable for agriculture. However, it is adaptable and is known to make use of secondary habitats, including roofs of buildings or thatched huts, switch boxes, water pumps and transformers. Resultantly, it can become a nuisance by causing electrical short circuits (Skinner & Chimimba 2005).

Uses and trade

The Woodland Dormouse seems to be growing in popularity in the pet trade in Europe and USA (see e.g. https://www.thespruce.com/african-dormice-as-pets-1236775). We suspect that a large majority of pet Woodland Dormice originate from captive breeding programmes rather than from the wild. There are also anecdotal records of schoolboys keeping them as pets in Zimbabwe (Skinner & Chimimba 2005).

Conservation

Within the assessment region, the Woodland Dormouse is present within many protected areas across its range, including the Kruger National Park (Limpopo and Mpumalanga), Telperion Nature Reserve (Mpumalanga), Ezemvelo Nature Reserve (Gauteng), Tswalu Kalahari Reserve (Northern Cape), Silaka, Hluleka, Dwesa, Mpofu, Fort Fordyce and the Great Fish River nature reserves (Eastern Cape). It is also present in the forests of the Amathole Mountains. Although no specific conservation interventions are necessary, protected area expansion to ensure corridors of suitable woodland for movement would benefit this species.

Recommendations for land managers and practitioners:
  • Protect woodland areas.
  • Influence agricultural policy to ensure connected patches of woodland are retained.
Research priorities:
  • Taxonomic revision is required to disentangle this species complex.
  • The boundaries between G. murinus and G. microtis should be clearly defined.
  • A better knowledge of the geographic distribution of this and other dormice species is needed. As trap placement is critical, with traps generally having to be set in trees in order to successfully catch this species, it means that Woodland Dormice could well be present in areas where they have not previously been detected.
A team of researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand and at the University of Fort Hare has been running a long-term project on the biology, ecology and behaviour of the Woodland Dormouse. Contact details of the research coordinator: Dr Kim Madikiza, School of Animal, Plant & Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050. Email: kim.madikiza@wits.ac.za.

Encouraged citizen actions:
  • Report sightings on virtual museum platforms (for example, iSpot and MammalMAP), especially outside protected areas.
  • Plant suitable indigenous trees in gardens and ensure corridors of natural vegetation remain to allow local movements.

Lead agencies, Partners and Funders

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