Dormice are rare in Latvia, as the country lies on the northern edge of their distribution range. The forest dormouse is the rarest of all. Until the end of the last century, a fourth species of dormouse could be found in Latvia – the garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus), which has disappeared from Latvia for unknown reasons.

To obtain data on the status of the dormouse population living in Latvia, the Nature Conservation Agency (hereinafter – the Agency) has been carrying out dormouse monitoring for several years. Unfortunately, the 2020 data is not encouraging – both the numbers of these small rodents and the territories they inhabit are shrinking.

Three species of the dormouse family are found in Latvia: the forest dormouse (Dryomys nitedula), the edible dormouse (Glis glis), and the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). All of them are included in the list of specially protected species and in the Red Data Book of Latvia.

Monitoring data shows that 2020 was the worst year for the forest dormouse population since 2015, with the lowest figures recorded both for the overall occupancy of nesting boxes set out by scientists and for the size of their distribution area.