Dormouse

The dormouse (Muscardinus Avellanarius) is an arboreal mammal that, although once common, is now an endangered species in the British Isles. Similar in appearence to the common mouse, dormice have a long bushy tail that is used to assist in climbing of trees and live primarily on hazel nuts and other seed based foodstuffs.

Lewis Carroll, the writer included a dormouse in the Alice in Wonderland stories and portrayed it as a fat lazy creature. This is not far from the truth as the dormouse (named from the Latin Dormeus or "sleepy one") spends more than three quarters of its life asleep.

Due to the human destruction of its traditional habitats, the dormouse is in decline. This has become a particular problem in certain British towns such as Hebden Bridge and York where basted, baked stuffed dormouse (normally stuffed with sage and leek) is something of a popular foodstuff. Hebden Bridge locals have experimented using water voles from their famous canals in place of dormice whereas York residents have attempted to use the far more ubiquitous rat (rattus rattus) in the local dish "spoogie" (the name given to baked, seasoned dormouse ).