Like many other southern European countries, Bulgaria experienced several wildfires this summer. One of them raged through the only known habitat of Roach’s mouse-tailed dormouse in Bulgaria. Nedko Nedyalkov, who studies this population already for several years, was in shock when he visited the area in August. The soil of the once-green area had turned black. Fortunately, the trees didn’t seem to be damaged. Roach’s mouse-tailed dormice spend the day in hollow trees, especially old oak trees. Neither were the wooden nestboxes Nedko placed in the area. When Nedko checked the nestboxes after the fire, he found two young mouse-tailed dormice and some young edible dormice – alive and healthy. He also found other animals that can’t hide in hollow trees, like tortoises and hedgehogs. If these ground-living animals survived the fire, then – hopefully – the dormice did too.

Photos: Nedko Nedyalkov