News

default

Sofia hosted the first European Small Mammal Conservation Conference (SMCC 2026)

Photos: Dimitar Gradinarov (BSPB)
01.10.2026
At the end of September, Sofia hosted the first edition of the European Small Mammal Conservation Conference (SMCC 2026). The main organizers of the event were The Habitat Foundation (the Netherlands) and the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBER-BAS). The conference, held at the Faculty of Biology of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, was part of LIFE for Falcons project.

More than 110 scientists from almost all over Europe presented the results of their work and discussed the conservation of the European hamster, European ground squirrel, Romanian hamster, forest dormouse and other small mammals.

The LIFE for Falcons project team from Green Balkans presented a study on the dietary spectrum of Saker Falcons in Bulgaria during the breeding period. The data shows that over 80% of its diet consists of European ground squirrels.

The conference programme and book of abstracts are available here.