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The Bavarian short-eared mouse found confirms an existing occurrence in Bavaria.
© David Stille
The Bavarian short-eared mouse, which has been missing since 1962, was rediscovered through targeted studies of small mammals in the Alpine region.
A current occurrence of the Bavarian short-eared mouse near Mittenwald has now been confirmed using DNA analyses.
Mittenwald - The Bavarian short-eared mouse is considered one of the ten most threatened rodent species in Europe by the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Shortly after its discovery in 1962 near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it was considered lost and is now considered one of the rarest mammal species in the world.
Wildlife cameras brought a turning point in the years-long search
Until recently, only a small remaining population of a few hectares in Tyrol, near Lake Achensee, was known of the Bavarian short-eared mouse Microtus bavaricus.
Since 2011, the Bavarian State Office for the Environment (LfU) has been carrying out intensive research in order to track down the underground vole again in this country.
As part of workshops with the now 90-year-old discoverer of the species, Dr.
Claus König, former employee of the LfU bird protection station (1960–1962) and German and Austrian experts, detection methods were discussed and refined.
The turning point in the long-term search finally came with wildlife cameras that were optimized for observing small animals.
Aligned with the ground in potential habitats, each device stores thousands of images of roaming rodents.
Studies of Bavarian short-eared mice with live traps
“With a striking accumulation of recordings of potential Bavarian short-eared mice from the summer of 2023 near Mittenwald, the sensation suddenly seemed tangible,” said the coordinating biologist at the LfU, Dr.
Simon Ripperger.
In a subsequent study using live traps, one of these short-eared mice was caught in 400 so-called trap nights.
To determine the exact species, feces from this animal were collected and subsequent DNA analysis provided confirmation.
The collected DNA matches the DNA of a specimen of the Bavarian short-eared mouse that Claus König deposited in the Bavarian State Collection in 1962.
Further investigations should clarify the extent of the occurrence
Further investigations will focus on clarifying the exact extent of this occurrence, discovering others, estimating the frequency and identifying possible hazard factors.
The intensive search was accompanied by a film team from Arte and Bayerischer Rundfunk.
The documentation of the search for the mouse, which was believed to be missing, will be broadcast on ARTE on February 20th: https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/110188-000-A/die-bayerische-kurzohrmaus/.
Further information: www.lfu.bayern.de/natur/kleinsaeuger/forschungen/kurzohrmaus/
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