Red vole. The rodent order is rodentia. "Red Vole" in books

25.10.2019

Dimensions: body - up to 120 mm, tail - 27 - 50 mm, more often no more than 40 mm. The color of the back is variable, but usually bright with a predominance of red, rusty and brown-red colors, often separated from the gray color of the sides by a kind of "mantle". The tail is mostly distinctly or weakly two-tone, densely covered with hair throughout, so that the skin through them is not visible. At the end, especially in winter, a kind of “brush” is formed.

The skull is similar to that of the bank vole, but with a less juvenile appearance. The nasal bones are narrowed more weakly in the middle section and curved less roof-like in the anterior. The posterior end of the nasal processes of the premaxillary bones does not extend beyond the level of the posterior ends of the nasal bones, and the latter forms an angle directed backwards. The auditory tympanum is less swollen and the occipital height of the skull is less.

Biology

Lifestyle. The main habitats are taiga, mixed and deciduous forests. Found in the forest-steppe and forest-tundra. It prefers cluttered and moist habitats and willingly populates forested floodplains of water bodies, including shrubs. Throughout Siberia, it occurs in human dwellings, where the abundance exceeds that in "wild" biotopes by more than 5 times. In the conditions of Yakutia, the only species of voles with permanent settlements in cities and towns. In this region, red-backed vole settlements are not associated with natural biotopes.

The activity of the species is round-the-clock and polyphasic. The average distance from the nest is up to 390 m, the largest is up to 1 km. In winter, the species is active at -40°C - 50°C, it can pass through snow up to 70 - 80 m, and even more along paths.

The nature of the use of shelters and their use are similar to the bank vole. In the eastern part of the range, they settle in rotten stumps, but they climb much worse than the red-backed vole.

reproduction. Sexual maturity is observed at two months of age. The breeding period varies from 3 to 5.5 months, depending on the climate of the habitat area. The number of litters is 2 - 3, in arrived animals from 1 to 3, but not in all individuals. Spring breeding begins under the snow. The number in the litters of adult females is 5 - 7, in the arrived ones - 4 - 6 cubs. The indicator decreases with the height of the terrain above sea level and in the Arctic. The number experiences two-year, and even five-year fluctuations. The fall is especially significant after snowy and frosty winters. In the settlements of Yakutia, it breeds all year round.

Food. Animals are plant polyphages. They are characterized by a distinct change of food according to the seasons of the year. In spring - these are green parts of plants, seeds - in the first half of summer. Mushrooms and berries - the second part of summer and autumn. In winter - lichens and mosses. Little animal food is consumed. Insignificant reserves of seeds are found only in the northern regions of the range. In settlements, in addition to plant foods, especially in winter, it eats fish and meat in barns.

Morphologically related species

In morphology (appearance) it is close to the described pest ( Clethrionomys glareolus). The main differences are: the length of the tail without terminal hair is no more than 40 mm, the tail is covered with sparse hair through which the skin is visible; hairs do not form a "brush"; the color of the upperparts is dominated by dull tones of a reddish-brown hue, sometimes with a distinct rusty tint.

In addition, geographical variability is observed, which is characterized by a complex combination of multidirectional geographic and biotopic variability with local, most likely mutational variability. About 20 subspecies are known on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

Geographic distribution

The red-backed vole lives on the territory from the Kola Peninsula and the northern coast of Lake Ladoga to the Anadyr Range, Kamchatka, the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, the islands of Bering and Medny, Karaginsky, Shumshu, Paramushir, Shantar and Sakhalin. The species is common in some areas of Karelia, in the Leningrad region, isolated in the Slantsy region, to the western Priilmenye, the upper reaches of the Volga, Northern Mordovia, North-Eastern Tatarstan, isolated on the Samarskaya Luka. In addition, the range covers the North of Scandinavia, the North of Mongolia, Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula, North Japan, North America east to the coast of Hudson Bay.

Maliciousness

red-backed vole- ecologically limited synanthropus. It harms garden and other agricultural crops on personal plots. It is a carrier of many infectious diseases: Hemorrhagic fever, tick-borne encephalitis, tick-borne rickettsiosis, salmonellosis, tularemia and others. In buildings, the red-backed vole damages various products.

Pesticides

Chemical pesticides

Manual entry into burrows, other shelters, tubes, bait boxes:

Biological pesticides

Layout of ready-made baits at food enterprises and at home:

Control measures: deratization measures

Sanitary and epidemiological well-being is due to the successful implementation of the entire range of deratization measures, including organizational, preventive, extermination and sanitary and educational measures to combat rodents.

Organizational events include a set of the following measures:

administrative;
financial and economic;
scientific and methodological;
material.

Preventive actions designed to eliminate favorable living conditions for rodents and exterminate them through the following measures:

engineering and technical, including the use of various devices that automatically prevent rodents from accessing premises and communications;
sanitary and hygienic, including the observance of cleanliness in rooms, basements, on the territories of objects;
agro- and forestry, including measures to cultivate the forests of recreational areas to the state of forest parks and maintain these territories in a state free from weeds, fallen leaves, dead and drying trees; the same group of activities includes deep plowing of land in the fields;
preventive deratization, including measures to prevent the restoration of the number of rodents with the help of chemical and mechanical means.

The task of carrying out this group of activities lies with legal entities and individual entrepreneurs operating specific facilities and the adjacent territory.

These activities are carried out by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs with special training.

A small rodent can reach 9-10 cm long, with more than half occupied by the tail.

The trunk does not exceed 60 mm. The weight of this pest ranges from 20 to 45 g.

The whole body is covered short fur painted in different colors.

On the back and head it is brownish-red, on the sides it gradually turns into dark gray and steel. The color of the abdomen is light, silvery and whitish hairs are mixed here.

The ears and paws are smoky in color, as are the sparse hairs on the underside of the tail. The top side is much darker. By winter, the fur on the body brightens, acquiring a more intense rusty color.

The head is round, the nose is elongated and mobile, the ears are small and rounded. The body is dense, oval in shape.

The genus is very small, it includes only 12-14 varieties. The most common on the territory of the post-Soviet republics are 2 of them - red and bank voles.

We can also meet the red-gray, and in other places the California, Shikotan, Tien Shan and Gapper vole live.

Video

A small video with a bank vole, made in the Moscow Botanical Garden:

Large "squads" of rodents often cause damage to field-protective plantings, gardens, groves and forests.

It is possible and simply necessary to fight with forest voles!

The amazing fertility and resistance of these rodents to adverse conditions can lead to real disaster in any private sector.

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Mice are rarely talked about in a respectful tone. Usually they are described as poor, shy, but very harmful rodents. mouse vole- that is no exception.

This small animal can significantly spoil the crop in the garden, and gnaw a hole in the floor at home. Judging by photo, voles outwardly resembles ordinary mice and. At the same time, the muzzle of the inhabitants of the fields is smaller, and the ears and tail are shorter.

Features and habitat of the vole

The animals themselves belong to a large family of rodents and a subfamily. There are more than 140 field species. Almost all have their own differences, but there are common features:

small size (body length from 7 centimeters);
short tail (from 2 centimeters);
small weight (from 15 g);
16 teeth without roots (a new one will grow in place of the fallen tooth).

At the same time, roots were found in fossil rodents, but in the process of evolution, field animals lost them. A typical representative is common vole. This is a small rodent (up to 14 centimeters) with a brownish back and a gray belly. Lives near marshes, near rivers and in meadows. In winter, it prefers to move into people's houses.

Some species of field mice live underground (for example, mole voles). On the contrary, they lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle. In this case, terrestrial representatives are most often found. For example, among forest rodents, the most popular are:

red-backed vole;
red-gray field mouse;
bank vole.

All three species are distinguished by mobility, they are able to climb bushes and small trees. In the tundra, you can “get acquainted” with pied and, which also belong to this subfamily.

About 20 species of field rodents live in Russia. All of them are small. Residents of Mongolia, East China, Korea and the Far East were less fortunate. Their economy is harmed big vole.

Pictured is a large vole

Pictured is a red vole mouse

Rodents prepare in advance for the cold. Field mice do not hibernate and are active all year round. voles in winter feed on supplies from their pantries. It can be seeds, grains, nuts. Most often, the animals do not have enough of their own blanks, which is why they run to people's houses.

However, they do not always enter the house by accident. Sometimes rodents are kept as decorative pets. animal vole can live in a small cage with a metal grate filled with sawdust.

There are usually 2-3 females per male. In winter, it is recommended to transfer to larger cages and leave them in unheated rooms.

Pictured is a red-backed vole

Also, these rodents are used for scientific purposes. Biological and medical experiments are most often carried out on red and steppe vole. If mice are wound up in the apartment “illegally”, you should contact the sanitary and epidemiological station. Voles breed very actively and can significantly damage property.

Food

The owners of such an unusual pet as vole mouse you should know that your pet needs a balanced diet. The daily diet should include:

vegetables;
corn;
cottage cheese;
meat;
eggs;
fresh raw water.

For those who only dream buy vole, it should be understood that these are very voracious rodents, they are able to eat food more than their weight per day.

Many people believe that field mice are omnivores in nature. However, this is not quite true. "Menu" directly depends on the habitat. For example, steppe animals feed on grasses and plant roots. In the meadow, rodents choose juicy stems and all kinds of berries. forest voles feast on young shoots and buds, mushrooms, berries and nuts.

Almost all types of mice will not refuse small insects and larvae. water vole, for unknown reasons, likes potatoes and root vegetables. In general, vegetables and fruits from gardens are the favorite food of almost all field mice.

Rodents in large numbers can cause irreparable damage to the economy. In apartments and houses, mice eat everything they can steal: bread, straw, cheese, sausage, vegetables.

Pictured is a water vole

Reproduction and lifespan

It cannot be said that these are exclusively harmful creatures. In nature, they are an important link in the food chain. Without mice, many predators would starve, including martens and.

However, it is better not to let wild voles near the houses. These are very prolific rodents. In the natural environment, a female can bring from 1 to 7 litters in one year. And each will have 4-6 little mice. In greenhouse conditions, the animals breed even more actively.

The pregnancy itself lasts no more than a month. Mice become independent after 1-3 weeks. Captive gray voles become sexually mature at the age of 2-3 months. Pets - a little earlier.

Pictured is a gray vole

The age of these rodents is short, and rarely the mouse survives to the age of two. However, during this short period, vole can give birth to about 100 cubs. That is, a flock of one mouse can completely destroy stocks of root crops for the winter and other products.

Despite the fact that field mice are so prolific, some species are listed in the "Red". Vinogradov's Lemmings are in critical condition, and the Alai Slepushonka is endangered. There are also vulnerable species and voles that are in a state close to threatened.

red-backed vole. Body length up to 120 mm, tail length 27-50 mm, usually no more than 40 mm, i.e., much shorter than in other species of forest voles of our fauna. The color of the upperparts is usually bright, with a predominance of reddish or rusty-brown-reddish tones. The tail is for the most part weakly two-tone, densely covered with hair throughout (especially in winter), and the scaly cover of its skin is not visible through them.

The skull is similar in essential features to that of the European forest vole. Molar teeth in most cases with a much thicker layer of enamel; posterior upper tooth mostly with four teeth on the inner side.

Spreading. Forest zone of northern Eurasia (from Sweden and Norway in the west) to the western parts of North America. Together with woody vegetation, it penetrates into the tundra zone and rises into the mountains to the upper limit of the forest. To the south - to the forest-steppe regions of Kazakhstan and Western Siberia, the mountain forests of northern Mongolia, Northeast China, the Korea Peninsula and northern Japan. In the USSR - from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka and Kamchatka, the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan and some islands (Komandorsky, Kuril, Shantarsky, Sakhalin). To the south and west - to the Sortavalsky district of Karelia, the upper reaches of the river. Volga (vicinities of the city of Rzhev), lake. Ilmen, the northern part of the Mordovian, the northeastern parts of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Southern Urals, Kustanai and Tselinograd. The southern border covers the Kazakh Highlands (south to the Otrau Mountains), rises to Semipalatinsk and follows the river. Irtysh to the river. Kurchum, the Kurchum Range and further east to the state border of the USSR. An isolated location is known on the territory of the Zhiguli.

Biology and economic importance. The red-backed vole is most numerous in the coniferous and coniferous-broad-leaved forests of Siberia, but it is also found in the deciduous forests of the floodplains and small-leaved forests of the watershed areas of Western Siberia, including the insular forests of the forest-steppe. In the European part of the USSR, the abundance is everywhere much lower than that of the European forest and red-gray voles, with the exception of the northern Urals in the zone of penetration of the Siberian taiga. It also settles on homestead lands, among green areas of cities (in Siberia), in household and residential buildings, including urban ones (Yakutsk).

The lifestyle is similar to that of the European forest vole. In studies in the European North, it was found that when living together with both other species of the genus, the red-backed vole behaves like a more secretive living animal, more prolific, less climbing, more seed-eating and with a more developed instinct for storing winter food. Not branch food, but coniferous seeds, lichens and mosses play the main role in nutrition during this period.

Geographic variation and subspecies. The geographical variability of the red-backed vole is especially clearly expressed in color: in the direction from west to east, brighter, rusty-red tones appear in it, especially in the color of the more lush and dense winter fur than that of western animals. At the same time, towards the east and northeast, this coloration occupies a narrower zone of the back (“mantle”); the same rusty-red tones extend to the upper surface of the tail, while the underside acquires a yellowish tint. Voles from the southern regions of the distribution area (Kazakhstan) are the darkest and dullest colored. The tail of the eastern forms is shorter than that of the western ones. Geographical variability in the size and structure of the skull undoubtedly exists, but requires special study. In particular, the structure of molars in voles from the eastern parts of the range is apparently more complex than in western ones (appearance of the fifth internal tooth on M3).
Up to 15 subspecies are known, of which 10 are for the fauna of the USSR.

Literature. Mammals of the fauna of the USSR. Part 1. Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Moscow-Leningrad, 1963

Red-backed vole - Clethrionomys rutilus Pall.

Distinctive features of this vole are a bright reddish-red color of the back and a relatively short, monochromatic, densely pubescent tail. The sides are yellow-brown-gray, the belly is whitish with a light gray tint. Winter outfit is brighter and more contrasting. Juveniles are painted in lighter grayish tones. Weight 25-30 g. Body length 9-11 cm, tail - no more than 4 cm (usually 3-3.5 cm). There are 4 enamel grooves on the inside of the posterior molar.
This Siberian vole is distributed throughout Karelia, but inhabits the territory of the republic unevenly. It is more or less common only in the northern regions, and in the south it is quite rare (no more than 1-2% of the total number of rodents caught). An interesting exception is the years of low abundance of its main competitor, the bank vole. Under these conditions, the red-backed vole can also multiply strongly in southern Karelia, as was the case, for example, in 1969 in the Ladoga region. The average indicator of its abundance for all the years of observations is 0.06 specimens per 100 trap-days (share in the total capture of small mammals is 1.5 °/o) and 0.03 - per 10 trench-days (0.2 °/o). The reasons for the low abundance of the red-backed vole in the northwest of the range are not entirely clear, but most likely they are associated with the history of the distribution of this Siberian species and its relationship with the dominant native, the bank vole. Under the conditions of Karelia, the red-backed vole settles exclusively in forest biotopes, preferring spruce and mixed pine-spruce forests, where it chooses the most cluttered areas with a rich shrub or forb cover. In autumn, during the period of young growth, it is somewhat more widespread and is also found in deciduous undergrowth with an admixture of conifers. However, even at this time it avoids open habitats. In winter, it is often found in human buildings, in household plots, in haystacks, stacks and stacks.
By the nature of the shelters, the red-backed vole is a typical "underground", but not a "burrow". She arranges her dwelling in natural shelters, usually well protected from the outside, especially often in the voids between the roots of fir trees. Here, in the root cavity, she places the main stocks of mosses and cones, a "latrine", winter "feeding tables" and a nesting chamber. To build all this, the animal does not need to dig the ground. It simply pushes through the moss layer and gets into the interweaving of the roots, where, slightly compacting the loose litter, it makes moves. Sometimes shelters of the red-backed vole are located not under the roots, but under the moss layer or under the mossy deadwood. In addition to the main hole, the red-backed vole has non-permanent "villages". They are distinguished by the absence of a nesting chamber and permanent supplies; only “feeding tables” are usually located here.