A garden dormouse visiting my hives.

[abejaruco]

This baby, with the mask as "el Zorro", has been visiting my hives. Usually is sleeping during the winter, but the weather is almost confortable and the hungry is the hungry.

[buzzbee]

I hope you have mouse guards in place! Cute  otherwise,thanks for sharing!

[Michael Bush]

"I hates mieces to pieces!"

[Cindi]

How can something that is so cute be such a nuisance.  I am very grateful that rats are not cute.  I hate rats, we have a constant battle with these buggers, they love to get into the chicken and duck foods.  But we keep them under control.  We have so many dogs that do not like cats to a barn cat is not an option here.  Oh well...we carry on with our rat controls.  Great day.  Cindi

[mick]

Are you sure it is not a "filigree siberian hampster"?

We have Norwegian rats here like the rest of the world and lots of native rats. The native ones are cute, the norway rats are the rat everyone hates, evil foul things they are.

Your rat looks nice, love that tail! What is he sitting in? lots of seeds he has there.

[Michael Bush]

>How can something that is so cute be such a nuisance. 

Because they are.  They have destroyed whole civilizations, not to mention a lot of my comb and many of my colonies and much of my property.

[abejaruco]

We have a pair of predators very effective against the rats, here in the lowlands. They were imported to the Iberian peninsula by the Romans or Phoenitians, I don´t remember. They are better than the cats, really the cats are not very effective against the big rats.

http://www.sierradebaza.org/Fichas_fauna/04_10_gineta/gineta.htm

http://www.educarex.es/recursos/mci/2003/19/vertebrex/especies/meloncillo.htm

I think that it is sitting on the rest of a Diospyros kaki, It was eating tons of fruit.

[mick]

Abe that is an amazing creature, first time I have seen a genetta, where was he when you took that pic amigo?

[abejaruco]

Mick, It is necessary a magnific camera to obtein a photo of that stealthy animals. I have seen any "genetta" hunting around the "Quercus suber", the cork tree, because the rats eat the acorns. A car killed a genetta on the road and I take the skin any years ago. I will post a photo with the beautiful fur.

[Kirk-o]

Yes sir those mice can really get in the way
kirko

[abejaruco]

The gineta. 

[mick]

Thats beautiful fur Abe, you could make a great hat from that! But someone from a distance, might see your head and shoot you!

[Cindi]

I love to see the pictures of foreign animals.  So cool how many different animals inhabit our earth.  Great day.  Cindi

[abejaruco]

Iberia (Spain and Portugal) has a great diversity of interesting animals.

Here the Aguila real/Royal eagle hunting a goat of mountains.



Iberian linx. Interesting video where yoy can see how the glaciation was pressing to any animal and plants (the Nigra bee, the linx...) towards Spain along the centuries. The idiom is Spanish, but the images are universal.
http://www.espacioblog.com/forestman/post/2006/05/31/el-lince-iberico

The Iberian wolf

http://www.espacioblog.com/forestman/categoria/videos-interes

[kathyp]

great pics!!

i always carry a camera when i'm out in the woods.  one time i had coaxed my very young mare into a lake for a drink.  as i looked up, i saw a mountain lion down the shore a ways.  i pulled out my camera and put down my reins to get a good picture.  i don't know if it was the sound of the zoom, or the scent of the cat, but that mare sat and spun and dumped me in the lake.  i managed to land on my butt and save the camera. then the mare and i had a "chat" about inappropriate behavior!  never did get the picture