The rock dormouse or flat-headed African dormouse (''Graphiurus platyops'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

in the family Gliridae. It is found in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, Eswatini,

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

, and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

where it lives among rocks in upland areas. It is a fairly common, mainly nocturnal species and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Description

The rock dormouse is a moderate sized species with a head-and-body length of and a tail of , weighing between . The fur on the back is soft, smooth and rather long, being around on the rump with guard hairs of . The dorsal colour varies from grey to some shade of greyish-brown. The underparts are white or cream tinted with grey, and there is a sharp line demarcating the junction between the dorsal and ventral colouring. The crown matches the colour of the back but the muzzle is paler. The ears are fairly large and rounded and the eyes are large. There is a conspicuous mask around the eyes and the cheeks are white, this colour extending in a band to the shoulders. The hind feet are usually white but may have dark streaks on top. The tail has short fur near the base and longer hair near the tip, where the hair may be as long as . It is grey or greyish-brown, flecked with white, and has a white tip.

Distribution

The rock dormouse is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to southern Africa. Its range extends through southern Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, central Mozambique, eastern Botswana, northeastern South Africa and northwestern Eswatini, mostly at altitudes above . Its typical habitat is in rocky outcrops, in kopjes (rocky, elevated areas on an otherwise flat plain), krantzes (steep rock faces) and piles of boulders, sometimes in association with the

yellow-spotted rock hyrax The yellow-spotted rock hyrax or bush hyrax (''Heterohyrax brucei'') is a species of mammal in the family Procaviidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ma ...

and the

rock hyrax The rock hyrax (; ''Procavia capensis''), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Commonly referred to in South Africa as the da ...

. It has been found in scrubby thickets in a dried up stream bed in Mozambique, and in caves in South Africa.

Ecology

The rock dormouse lives in cracks and crevices in rocky places, its cranium being flattened to enable it to pass through narrow apertures. It is mostly nocturnal but is sometimes active early in the morning. The diet is

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

, and includes seeds, green plant material and insects such as

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s. It is a solitary animal and warns off intruders by lashing its tail and emitting soft warning calls. If the intruder persists, a different, more aggressive call is used, and a fight may erupt.

Status

The rock dormouse is a fairly common species in suitable habitat and faces no particular threats. It occurs in several protected areas and the

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5413708 Graphiurus Mammals described in 1897 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot