Vole
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
-
For other uses, see Vole (disambiguation).
?Vole | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus, is found in many parts of North America
|
||||||||||||
Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Microtus |
A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, and smaller ears and eyes.
Contents |
[edit] Description
Most vole species have rootless molars that fold into a series of triangles. Voles are one of the few rodents whose molars continue to grow during their entire life. There is little to distinguish a vole from a lemming.
Voles exhibit complex genetic structures with much variation, and appear to be evolving rapidly when compared to other vertibrates. Species have been found with anywhere from 17-64 chromosomes. Female voles have been found with chromosomes from both sexes. All of these variations result in very little physical abberration: most vole species are virtually indistinguishable.[1]
All rodents have incisors that grow continuously.
Adult voles, depending on the species, are three to seven inches long.
[edit] Habitat
Voles live in a variety of environments. The North American Meadow Vole lives in networks of above-ground "runways" in grassy areas, as well as underground burrows. California's Red Tree Vole lives in the treetops.
[edit] Range
Sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in America, approximately 70 species of voles can be found in Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America.
[edit] Diet
Depending on the species, the vole's diet consists of seeds, tubers, conifers needles, bark, various green vegetation such as grass and clover, and insects.
[edit] Predators
Many carnivores such as wolves, owls, hawks, coyotes, foxes, weasels, cats and fish eat voles.
[edit] Age
The average life of a vole is 3–6 months. Voles rarely live longer than 12 months. The longest lifespan of a vole ever recorded was 18 months.
[edit] Popular culture
- The character of Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's children's novel The Wind in the Willows is actually a water vole (Arvicola amphibus), not a rat.
- The Inquirer, an IT web newsletter, nicknames the software company, Microsoft, "the vole".
- In an episode of the first season of the British situation comedy Green Wing (2004) Dr. Caroline Todd likens colleague Dr. Martin Dear to a vole. Everyone concurs.
- An episode of the U.S. animated comedy, King Of The Hill, confused a character (Bill) with a vole for comic effect.
- Voles were frequently mentioned in the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a common type of vermin aboard the space station DS9, usually found in the Cargo Bay or in Engineering.