Eurasian harvest mouse
Micromys minutus
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The Eurasian harvest mouse is the smallest European rodent. Fully grown, it weighs no more than 7 g, less than a 10 pence piece! The Eurasian harvest mouse resides in open landscapes, such as fields and grasslands, feeding on seeds, green plant shoots and insects. They are excellent climbers on account of their specially evolved toes and prehensile tails. They are solitary animals with set territories and the male and females only come together during mating season. In the summer, spherical breeding nests are woven from dried grass, measuring on average between 6 and 13 centimetres, and typically hung from plant stems one meter above ground. The young are born furless and blind. They open their eyes after 8 to 10 days and leave the nest once they are between 15 and 16 days old. Due to widespread destruction of habitats, the continued survival of the Eurasian harvest mouse across Europe is subject to pronounced fluctuations. However, in many regions their populations are decreasing. Conservationists in Great Britain have found that tennis balls offer these rodents a perfect dry and safe home. Volunteers cut small entry holes into tennis balls, which are suited to the mice yet too small for predators. The balls are then hung out for them to find. Regular inspections show that the harvest mouse gladly adopts such housing as its own. This enables the localized recovery and revival of harvest mouse populations. To raise awareness of their disappearing habitats, the organisers of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships have donated a share of the approximately 54,000 tournament balls since 2001 to British environmental organizations.