Kids' T-Shirt, Hazel dormice

The Hazel dormouse or common dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) is a small mammal that lives in deciduous forests throughout most of Europe. In Greece, it is found on the mainland as well as on the islands of Corfu and Euboea.

In winter it hibernates in hollows in the lower parts of old trees, or in a nest it builds on the ground.
In summer it builds new nests in bushes or trees, using bark, fresh leaves and grasses.

Its diet varies: in the fall, it feeds on nuts, seeds, and blackberries and stores fat to get through the winter. In the spring, it feeds on tree blossoms (hawthorn, oak), while in the summer it feeds mainly on insects, such as caterpillars.

It takes quite a bit of luck to spot a hazel dormouse, as it hibernates for several months in the winter and spends the rest of the year high up in the trees.

It is easier to find its traces, such as the summer nests it builds in the trees, or hazelnuts cracked open in a characteristic way, or elderberry trunks carefully stripped of their bark which is used to build the nest.