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Voles outwardly resemble several other small animals. Moles , gophers , mice , rats and even shrews have similar characteristics and behavioral tendencies. Voles thrive on small plants yet, like shrews , they will eat dead animals and, like mice and rats, they can live on almost any nut or fruit.
Microtus is a genus of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. They are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails.
Eastern meadow voles are active year-round [8] [9] and day or night, with no clear 24-hour rhythm in many areas. [10] Most changes in activity are imposed by season, habitat, cover, temperature, and other factors. Eastern meadow voles have to eat frequently, and their active periods (every two to three hours) are associated with food digestion.
Frogs, fish, small birds and bird eggs are rarely eaten. It can deal with adult pikas and gerbils, but usually cannot overcome brown rats and sousliks. Exceptional cases are known of least weasels killing prey far larger than themselves, such as capercaillie, hazel hen and hares. [34] In England, a favoured prey item is the field vole (Microtus ...
Unlike other voles, prairie voles are generally monogamous. The prairie vole is a notable animal model for studying monogamous behavior and social bonding because male and female partners form lifelong pair bonds, huddle and groom each other, share nesting and pup-raising responsibilities, and generally show a high level of affiliate behavior ...
Alfisol and Ultisol soil types are particularly favored due to being favorable to the vole's burrowing system. [2] Voles feed on both the roots and stem system and the vegetation of plants, as well as fruits, seeds, bark, subterranean fungus and insects. [4] Because they feed on roots and tubers, voles do not need to drink water much. [3]
The most convenient distinguishing feature of the Arvicolinae is the nature of their molar teeth, which have prismatic cusps in the shape of alternating triangles. These molars are an adaptation to a herbivorous diet in which the major food plants include a large proportion of abrasive materials such as phytoliths; the teeth get worn down by abrasion throughout the adult life of the animal and ...
The taiga vole's habitat stretches from northwestern Canada to Alaska. [3] Fossils have been found as far south as Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia, suggesting that the taiga voles cover a much smaller range now than in the past. [3] Taiga vole fossils have been found south of where the Laurentide Ice Sheet once was during the late Pleistocene. [4]