Type of small omnivorous rodent

Vole
The bank vole (Myodes glareolus) lives in woodland areas in Europe and Asia.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Cricetidae
Subfamily:	Arvicolinae
Groups included
Arvicolini Ellobiusini – mole voles Myodini Phenacomyini – tree and heather voles Pliomyini Prometheomyini
Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa
Dicrostonychini - collared lemmings Lagurini Lemmini Ondatrini - muskrats

Voles are pocket-sized rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller ears and eyes; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of low-crowned with rounded cusps). They are sometimes known equally meadow mice or field mice in Northward America.

Vole species grade the subfamily Arvicolinae with the lemmings and the muskrats. There are approximately 155 different vole species.

Clarification [ edit ]

Voles are modest rodents that grow to 8–23 cm (three–9 in), depending on the species. Females tin can take five to ten litters per yr, though with an average lifespan of three months and requiring one month to adulthood, two litters is the norm. ^[1] Gestation lasts for three weeks and the young voles reach sexual maturity in a calendar month. As a result of this biological exponential growth, vole populations can grow very big within a short time. A mating pair can produce a hundred more voles in a twelvemonth.

Voles outwardly resemble several other small animals. Moles, gophers, mice, rats and even shrews have similar characteristics and behavioral tendencies.

Voles thrive on pocket-sized plants nevertheless, like shrews, they volition eat dead animals and, similar mice and rats, they can live on almost whatever nut or fruit. In add-on, voles target plants more than than most other pocket-sized animals, making their presence evident. Voles readily girdle small-scale trees and ground encompass much like a porcupine. This girdling can easily kill young plants and is non good for you for trees and other shrubs.

Voles often consume succulent root systems and burrow under plants and eat away until the plant is dead. Bulbs are another favorite target for voles; their fantabulous burrowing and tunnelling skills give them access to sensitive areas without clear or early warning. The presence of large numbers of voles is frequently identifiable only afterward they accept destroyed a number of plants. However, like other burrowing rodents, they also play beneficial roles, including dispersing nutrients throughout the upper soil layers. ^[2]

Predators [ edit ]

Many predators eat voles, including martens, owls, hawks, falcons, coyotes, bobcats, ^[3] foxes, ^[four] raccoons, snakes, weasels, domestic cats and lynxes. Vole bones are often found in the pellets of the curt-eared owl, ^[five] the northern spotted owl, ^[6] the saw-whet owl, ^[7] the barn owl, the dandy greyness owl, ^[eight] and the northern pygmy owl. ^{[nine] [10] [11] [12]}

Lifespan [ edit ]

The average life of the smaller vole species is three to six months. These voles rarely live longer than 12 months. Larger species, such as the European water vole, live longer and normally die during their second, or rarely their third, winter. Equally many as 88% of voles are estimated to die within the first month of life. ^[13]

Genetics and sexual behavior [ edit ]

The prairie vole is a notable brute model for its monogamous social fidelity, since the male is usually socially faithful to the female person, and shares in the raising of pups. The woodland vole is likewise usually monogamous. Some other species from the same genus, the meadow vole, has promiscuously mating males, and scientists have inverse adult male person meadow voles' behavior to resemble that of prairie voles in experiments in which a viral vector was used to increase a single gene'due south expression within a particular brain region. ^[14]

The behavior is influenced by the number of repetitions of a item string of microsatellite Deoxyribonucleic acid. Male prairie voles with the longest Dna strings spend more time with their mates and pups than male person prairie voles with shorter strings. ^[15] However, other scientists accept disputed the gene'due south relationship to monogamy, and cast dubiety on whether the homo version plays an analogous role. ^[16] Physiologically, pair-bonding beliefs has been shown to be continued to vasopressin, dopamine, and oxytocin levels, with the genetic influence apparently arising via the number of receptors for these substances in the brain; the pair-bonding behavior has too been shown in experiments to exist strongly modifiable by administering some of these substances directly.

Voles take a number of unusual chromosomal traits. Species have been plant with 17 to 64 chromosomes. In some species, males and females have different chromosome numbers, a trait unusual in mammals, though it is seen in other organisms. Additionally, genetic material typically plant on the Y chromosome has been establish in both males and females in at least ane species. In another species, the Ten chromosome contains 20% of the genome. All of these variations result in very piffling concrete aberration; virtually vole species are virtually indistinguishable. ^[17] In 1 species, the creeping vole Microtus oregoni, information technology was discovered the Y chromosome has been lost entirely, the male-determining chromosome is actually a second X that is largely identical to the female person X, and both the maternally inherited and male-specific sex chromosomes deport vestiges of the ancestral Y. This is quite unusual in mammals, every bit the XY organisation is adequately stable across a number of mammal species. ^[eighteen]

Mating arrangement [ edit ]

Voles may be either monogamous or polygamous, which leads to differing patterns of mate pick and parental intendance. Environmental weather play a large part in dictating which arrangement is agile in a given population. Voles live in colonies due to the young remaining in the family grouping for relatively long periods. ^[nineteen] In the genus Microtus , monogamy is preferred when resources are spatially homogenous and population densities are low and where the opposite of both conditions are realized polygamous tendencies arise. ^[20] Vole mating systems are besides sensitive to the operational sexual activity ratio and tend toward monogamy when males and females are nowadays in equal numbers. Where i sex is more numerous than the other, polygamy is more likely. ^[21] However the most marked effect on mating system is population density and these effects can have place both inter and intra-specifically. ^[twenty]

Male voles are territorial and tend to include territories of several female voles when possible. Nether these weather condition polyandry exists and males offer piffling parental intendance. ^[22] Males mark and aggressively defend their territories since females prefer males with the most recent marking in a given area. ^[23]

Voles prefer familiar mates through olfactory sensory exploitation. Monogamous voles prefer males who have yet to mate, while not-monogamous voles practice not. ^[24] Mate preference in voles develops through cohabitation in as petty as 24 hours. ^[23] This drives young male person voles to evidence non-limiting preference toward female siblings. This is not inclusive to females' preference for males which may help to explain the absence of interbreeding indicators.^{[ clarification needed ]}

Although females evidence little territoriality, nether pair bonding conditions they tend to bear witness aggression toward other female voles. ^[24] This behavior is flexible as some Microtus females share dens during the wintertime months, perchance to conserve heat and energy. ^[25] Populations which are monogamous prove relatively minor size differences between genders compared with those using polygamous systems. ^[26]

The grey-sided vole ( Myodes rufocanus ) exhibits male-biased dispersal as a means of avoiding incestuous matings. ^[27] Among those matings that involve inbreeding, the number of weaned juveniles in litters is significantly fewer than that from noninbred litters, due to inbreeding depression.

Brandt's vole ( Lasiopodomys brandtii ) lives in groups that mainly consist of close relatives. However, they show no sign of inbreeding. ^[28] The mating arrangement of these voles involves a type of polygyny for males and extra-group polyandry for females. This system increases the frequency of mating among distantly related individuals, and is achieved mainly by dispersal during the mating season. ^[28] Such a strategy is likely an adaptation to avert the inbreeding depression that would be acquired by expression of deleterious recessive alleles if shut relatives mated.

Empathy and consolation [ edit ]

A 2016 report into the beliefs of voles, Microtus ochrogaster specifically, found that voles comfort each other when mistreated, spending more fourth dimension grooming a mistreated vole. Voles that were not mistreated had levels of stress hormones that were like to the voles that had been mistreated, suggesting that the voles were capable of empathizing with each other. This was further proven by blocking the vole'southward receptors for oxytocin, a hormone involved in empathy. When the oxytocin receptors were blocked this behavior stopped. ^[29]

This type of empathetic behavior has previously been thought to occur merely in animals with avant-garde cognition such as humans, apes and elephants.

Vole clock [ edit ]

The vole clock is a method of dating archaeological strata using vole teeth. ^[30]

Classification [ edit ]

• Guild Rodentia
  • Superfamily Muroidea
    • Family Cricetidae
      • Subfamily Arvicolinae (in function)
        • Tribe Arvicolini
          • Genus Arvicola – water voles
          • Genus Blanfordimys – Afghan vole and Bucharian vole
          • Genus Chionomys – snow voles
          • Genus Lasiopodomys
          • Genus Lemmiscus – sagebrush vole
          • Genus Microtus – voles
          • Genus Neodon – mountain voles
          • Genus Phaiomys
          • Genus Proedromys – Duke of Bedford's vole
          • Genus Volemys
        • Tribe Ellobiusini – mole voles
          • Genus Ellobius – mole voles
        • Tribe Myodini
          • Genus Alticola – voles from Central Asia
          • Genus Caryomys
          • Genus Eothenomys – voles from Eastward Asia
          • Genus Hyperacrius – voles from India (Truthful's vole), Transitional islamic state of afghanistan and Pakistan (Murree's vole)
          • Genus Myodes – crimson-backed voles
        • Tribe Phenacomyini
          • Genus Arborimus – tree voles
          • Genus Phenacomys – heather voles
        • Tribe Pliomyini
          • Genus Dinaromys – voles from the Dinaric Alps

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• "Genetic Lawmaking for Monogamy"—National Geographic video on YouTube