|
 |
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
European water vole - ARVICOLA TERRESTRIS
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Vole": "Vole" comes from the Swedish word "voll," which means "field," short for "field mouse."
Location: Europe, central northern Asia.
Habitat: Terrestrial. Cultivated land, orchards; also by the shores of lakes and along riverbanks.
Description: The vole’s coat is dense and dark brown, but some individuals are light gray or black. The head is quite thickset, the snout relatively short and rounded as in other voles, the eyes small, and the ears short. These voles grow about a foot long, five inches of which are tail. It weighs up to six ounces.
Behavior: This vole feeds on roots, which it finds by digging tunnels similar to those dug by moles. It also eats fruit, vegetables, and bulbs. When it finds its way into an orchard, it can severely damage fruit trees by gnawing through the roots. The tunnel system also includes a burrow with a nest chamber, and in most cases a storage chamber. It is a solitary animal, but the population in an area may be dense sometimes in favorable habitats.
Reproduction: Reproduction occurs in summer. In this period the males mark out their territory with a substance secreted by glands located on the sides of the body. After a gestation period of three weeks the female delivers two to eight young, which nurse for about four weeks. There may be as many as four litters in the course of a single summer.
Go to the Rodents Page to learn more about all the gnawing animals.
Or go to the Vole Index to study other
voles.
From Address Labels to Zoo Toys... All Creatures Great and Small You'll Find It at the America Zoo Gift Shop Realistic Stuffed Animals & Animal Figurines Wildlife Decor for Your Home Animal Books, Magazines, and Educational Materials A Wide Variety of Wildlife Gifts & Apparel and Much, Much More  ↓ For Your Favorite Little Animal Lover ↓
Home Animal Research Library About AmericaZoo
|
