The forest vole is a very prolific animal. Common vole (Microtus arvalis) Methods of control and protection
The field mouse is a small rodent distributed throughout the world. Refers to the most numerous species of mammals - mouse classification. There are more than 100 species on earth. They adapt perfectly to any living conditions. There are no mice only high in the mountains, in areas covered with ice.
Appearance
Little animal called differently: field vole, meadow vole, little vole, striped vole. The appearance is familiar to everyone, because field mice- frequent cohabitants of people. In cold weather or with the onset of other unfavorable conditions V natural environment moving into barns, warehouses, sheds, outbuildings, and houses. They often live in gardens, vegetable gardens, and personal plots.
Description of the field mouse:
- The maximum body length is no more than 12 cm, the average size is 10 cm excluding the tail. The thin tail makes up 70% of the body length.
- The body is oblong, the hind feet are elongated. When running, they always come forward.
- Long muzzle, small round ears, oblong nose.
The appearance is very attractive, harmless, cute. The red nose is especially interesting. does not differ from the general proportions of most species of these rodents.
The coat is short, hard and uneven in color. The belly is always lighter, the back has a black stripe. You can distinguish a vole by the stripe on its back. Coat color varies depending on the region. The vole mouse can be gray, brown, ocher, or red. IN summer period darker, begins to change towards winter. Below are field mice in the photo; you can clearly see the differences between the animal and other rodents.
Interesting!
The unique teeth of a vole grow throughout its life. Except for a row of small teeth on the upper jaw. On the lower jaw there is a pair of long incisors. They appear in the second month of a mouse’s life and grow by 1-2 mm every day. To prevent excessive growth of teeth, rodents are forced to constantly grind them down. They bite hard objects that are not of nutritional value, but those that surround them.
It’s not hard to guess how much a small animal weighs. The small animal gains weight no more than 30 g. On average, a field mouse weighs 20 g.
Food cravings
What the field mouse eats interests most of the population. Because pests chew on almost everything - wood, concrete structures, bricks. Some are plastic, rubber and other synthetic materials.
Lifestyle
In countries with warm climates, the meadow mouse is active all year round. In our area, with the onset of cold weather, mice do not hibernate, but the process of reproduction of the new generation slows down. Relatively well tolerated low temperature. They can safely spend the winter on the field.
How field mice overwinter depends on the objects surrounding them and natural conditions. In the warm season, rodents live in the field, with an increase in numbers, the onset of unfavorable weather, disasters - fire, drought, flood, premature frosts, they settle in gardens and vegetable gardens. Each individual makes its home at a depth of about 1 m; in winter it goes down to 3 m. Usually the meadow mouse spends the winter in a hole.
Interesting!
The vole's abode includes a nest where pups are born and mature, several chambers with food supplies, and labyrinths of passages with obligatory access to water.
In addition to the burrow, wintering occurs in haystacks, haystacks left on the field, stacks, barns, sheds, and outbuildings. The bravest or most arrogant sneak into the house. The question of where voles live in winter can be answered ambiguously - wherever possible.
Hibernation is not typical for the field mouse. The rodent living in our area cannot hibernate. If there is not enough food, if the animal was unable to store food, it risks dying. In winter, it occasionally comes to the surface during a thaw.
On a note!
Some species of voles sleep in winter and can wake up when it gets warmer. They prefer to sleep in a hole. Accumulate useful material starts in the summer, a layer of fat is deposited, which disappears during the winter.
Features of behavior
Field mice are extremely active and mobile, which is due to their metabolic characteristics. The rodent eats about 6 times per day, but quickly uses up energy. Can't stand hunger, even more thirst. Without food or water, it lives no more than a week.
They adapt well to new conditions. They move along mastered lines, defined trajectories. They mark their territory with urine. Activities intensify with the onset of darkness. They are active during the day in dark rooms.
Mice are extremely cautious, which makes them shy in the eyes of humans. The slightest rustle or sound makes the rodent run for cover and hide in a hole. Enemies of mice: lizards, snakes, rats, dogs, cats, wild animals. Danger lurks at every step. The list of who eats the field mouse can go on for a long time.
The small rodent tries not to run far from the hole, moving away by 1 m. It prefers to move in the shade, under bushes, in tall grass. Each individual is assigned its territory. They live in flocks, where there is a leader - a male, and several dominant females.
On a note!
Life expectancy in wildlife is 1 year, although according to genetic data they can live up to 7 years. The predators who hunt field mice every day are to blame for everything. How many live in artificial conditions, depends on the conditions of detention, proper nutrition. Average age- 3 years.
Features of reproduction
The field mouse becomes sexually mature after 3 months. A young female gives birth to from 1 to 3 cubs, an adult – up to 12 in one litter. Pregnancy lasts about 25 days.
The cubs are born blind, naked, absolutely helpless. A photo of field mice after birth is presented below. The female takes care of the young offspring for up to 1 month, then the young are expelled. They arrange their own housing and get food. 
9-10 days after birth, the mouse is again ready for fertilization. Reproduces new offspring up to 4 times per year. The favorable period for this begins in May and lasts until October.
Sabotage
A field mouse can cause enormous damage agriculture. It digs numerous holes in the fields, damages ears of wheat, and leaves mounds of earth. As a result, this makes harvesting difficult and the grain loses its marketable appearance.
Settling in barns, warehouses, and other premises where people began to store cereals, grain, flour, mice eat a third of the reserves over the winter. The product is contaminated with feces and urine. There is an unpleasant mouse smell in the room.
On a note!
The vole doesn't bite. When he sees a person, he tries to quickly hide. But, when driven into a corner, it is capable of piercing with sharp teeth. Dangerous due to the spread of viral, bacterial, fungal infections, tularemia, plague, fever, rabies.
Rodent control
An increase in the number of mice in the field threatens serious losses for agricultural workers. No less damage from rodents in the garden. To destroy pests, poisonous baits are used. They are fighting. Products with a strong odor are used indoors. Preventive measures are also important.
Introduction
Common vole ( Microtus arvalis) - a species of rodents of the genus gray voles.
1. Appearance
The animal is small in size; body length is variable, 9-14 cm. Weight usually does not exceed 45 g. The tail makes up 30-40% of the body length - up to 49 mm. The color of the fur on the back can vary from light brown to dark gray-brown, sometimes mixed with brownish-rusty tones. The abdomen is usually lighter: dirty gray, sometimes with a yellowish-ochre coating. The tail is either single-colored or weakly two-colored. The lightest colored voles are from central Russia. There are 46 chromosomes in the karyotype.
2. Distribution
Distributed in biocenoses and agrocenoses of forest, forest-steppe and steppe zones mainland Europe from Atlantic coast in the west to Mongolian Altai in the east. In the north, the border of the range runs along the coast Baltic Sea, southern Finland, southern Karelia, the Middle Urals and Western Siberia; in the south - along the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, Crimea and northern Asia Minor. It is also found in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, in Northern Kazakhstan, in the southeast of Central Asia, and in Mongolia. Found in the Orkney Islands.
3. Lifestyle
In its vast range, the vole gravitates mainly to field and meadow cenoses, as well as to agricultural lands, vegetable gardens, orchards, and parks. Avoids continuous forest areas, although it is found in clearings, clearings and edges, in open forests, in riverine thickets of bushes, and forest belts. Prefers places with well-developed grass cover. In the southern part of its range, it gravitates towards wetter biotopes: floodplain meadows, ravines, river valleys, although it is also found in dry steppe areas, on fixed sands outside deserts. In the mountains it rises to subalpine and alpine meadows at an altitude of 1800-3000 m above sea level. Avoids areas subject to intense anthropogenic pressure and transformation.
In warm weather, it is active mainly at dusk and at night; in winter, activity is around the clock, but intermittent. Lives in family colonies, usually consisting of 1-5 related females and their offspring of 3-4 generations. The home ranges of adult males occupy 1200-1500 m² and cover the home ranges of several females. In their settlements, voles dig a complex system of burrows and trample a network of paths, which in winter turn into snow passages. Animals rarely leave paths, which allow them to move faster and navigate more easily. The depth of the burrows is small, only 20-30 cm. The animals protect their territory from alien individuals of their own and other species of voles (even to the point of killing). During periods of high abundance, colonies of several families often form in grain fields and other feeding areas.
The common vole is distinguished by territorial conservatism, but if necessary, during harvesting and plowing fields, it can move to other biotopes, including stacks, stacks, vegetable and granary warehouses, and sometimes to human residential buildings. In winter, it makes nests under the snow, woven from dry grass.
The vole is a typically herbivorous rodent whose diet includes a wide range of foods. Seasonal changes in diet are typical. In the warm season, it prefers the green parts of cereals, asteraceae and legumes; occasionally eats mollusks, insects and their larvae. In winter, it gnaws the bark of bushes and trees, including berries and fruits; eats seeds and underground parts of plants. Makes food reserves reaching 3 kg.
3.1. Reproduction
The common vole breeds throughout the warm season - from March-April to September-November. In winter there is usually a pause, but in closed places (stacks, stacks, outbuildings), if there is sufficient food, it can continue to reproduce. In one reproductive season, a female can bring 2-4 broods, a maximum of middle lane- 7, in the south of the range - up to 10. Pregnancy lasts 16-24 days. A litter averages 5 cubs, although their number can reach 15; the cubs weigh 1-3.1 g. Young voles become independent on the 20th day of life. They begin to reproduce at 2 months of life. Sometimes young females become pregnant already on the 13th day of life and bring the first brood at 33 days.
The average life expectancy is only 4.5 months; By October, most voles die; the young of the last litters overwinter and begin breeding in the spring. Voles are one of the main food sources for a variety of predators - owls, kestrels, weasels, stoats, ferrets, foxes and wild boars.
The common vole is a widespread and numerous species that easily adapts to human economic activity and the transformation of natural landscapes. The number, like that of many fertile animals, fluctuates greatly between seasons and years. Characteristic outbreaks of numbers followed by long-term depressions. In general, the fluctuations appear to be on a 3- or 5-year cycle. In years of greatest abundance, population density can reach 2000 individuals per hectare, while in years of depression it drops to 100 individuals per hectare.
It is one of the most serious pests of agriculture, gardening and horticulture, especially during years of mass reproduction. It damages grain and other standing crops and in stacks, and gnaws the bark of fruit trees and shrubs. It is the main natural carrier of plague pathogens in Transcaucasia, as well as pathogens of tularemia, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, toxoplasmosis and other diseases dangerous to humans.
Distributed throughout the European part of Russia, the Caucasus, Western Siberia (except for the tundra) and the south Central Siberia. This average size The animal is of a typical brownish-gray color.
Body length 9–12.5 cm, tail 3–4.5 cm, body weight from 14 to 50, but more often about 20 g. Found in fields, meadows, forest clearings and edges, also in populated areas. In winter, it often penetrates into the basements of houses or into haystacks and straw stacks.
The size of the print of the front foot of this vole is 0.9 × 0.7, the back one is 1.6 × 1.1 cm. The sole of the hind foot is bare, with 6 rounded plantar tubercles visible on it.
The method of movement is typical for all gray voles. She usually runs, not jumps, like a mouse. At the same time, it leaves 2 rows of dense prints arranged like a snake. Step length 2–4, track width 2.5 cm.
However, both the length of the step and the width of the path may be somewhat different, which depends on the size of the animal. If an animal jumps, then the paw prints lie in pairs, like those of a small weasel. The length of the jumps is about 5, the width of the track is 2–3 cm. And the paw prints of the gray vole never fall.
Traces of a common vole: a, b - respectively, traces during a mincing run and two-step short jumps: c - print of the paws of a vole moving in long leaps; d - hole in the snow - the outlet of a snowy burrow: d - front and hind legs of a vole from below; e - animal droppings
When winter sets in and deep snow falls, the animals rarely appear on the surface. Living under the snow, they dig long winding passages. Above the vole settlements you can see vents dug in the snow (about 1.5 cm in diameter) - vertical passages from the ground itself to the surface of the snow.
At the top, animals are shown only when moving from the field to villages or other areas. If the weather is mild, then during the night they can move 500–1500 m. In frosty and windy weather, during forced relocation, many voles freeze or die from feathered or terrestrial predators.
Voles feed mainly on green parts of plants, cereals, legumes, and rosaceae. Occasionally they eat mollusks, insects and their larvae. In winter, they gnaw the bark of bushes and trees, including fruit trees. They begin to gnaw at the very ground, then rise higher, to the surface of the snow. Traces of sharp narrow incisors remain on the sapwood.
In the fall, when the snow barely covers the ground, or in the spring, as soon as it melts and the ground is exposed, you can see whole scatterings of droppings in the vole passages. The sizes of individual grains can indicate which voles belong to the discovered labyrinths. The common vole has smaller droppings than other voles that are very similar to it, - (4–3.5) x (1.5–2.2) mm.
These animals live in complex shallow burrows, between which there are noticeable paths, which in winter turn into snowy passages. In summer, nesting chambers are placed at a depth of up to 30 cm; in winter, nests are made of dry grass, which are located directly on the surface of the earth under a thick layer of snow. Many such nests can be discovered in the spring when the snow melts.
At favorable conditions a female vole can sometimes produce up to 7 broods per year, continuing to breed even in winter. One litter can have from 5 to 15 cubs. They are born naked and blind, but develop very quickly and after 2 months they are able to reproduce themselves.
Voles and wood miceJust like moles, only even closer to the surface, and in winter, voles and wood mice - ordinary residents of gardens and parks - make their roads right under the snow. After the transition from mild winter to warm summer, they sometimes multiply in huge numbers and cause irreparable damage to young trees.
Vole Mouse (vole)
Latin name: Microtus arvalis (Pallas, 1779)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animals
Type: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrates
Class: Mammals
Infraclass: Placental
Order: Rodents
Family: Hamsters
Genus: Gray voles
Species: Common vole
Like moles, voles dig deep holes, but unlike a mole, the vole's move in the ejection of soil from the side. The earthen mound itself is flatter on one side. The burrow has many entrances and exits, several nest chambers where voles store supplies and breed offspring. The passages can reach about 25 meters in length and are located at a depth of 5-35 cm. They reproduce very quickly: the vole gives up to eight litters of five to six cubs each year. Calculations have shown that if at the beginning of May 5 pairs of voles live on one hectare of meadow or arable land, then under favorable conditions by the fall there will already be 8.5 thousand individuals.
During the day, mice spend time underground, and at night there is a period of activity. Unlike the mole, the vole is a rodent and eats plant foods. Voles' teeth grow constantly, so they need to constantly grind them down, gnawing on plant roots, bulbs, tubers and other underground parts of plants. So per day they eat an amount of food equal to their body weight. IN winter period Voles continue to actively feed and therefore often eat the bark in the lower parts of trees.
Voles differ from the common gray mouse in their color and shorter tail. The body length without tail is 12 cm, the belly is gray, and the back is dark brown.
Strong heavy rains or winter thaws often lead to mass deaths of voles. The water in the holes freezes and the mice, deprived of protection and shelter, die.
The number of mice is also influenced by their natural enemies, Firstly predator birds. An owl eats 1000-1200 pieces per year. Foxes, martens, and weasels feed almost exclusively on mice. A ferret destroys 10-12 voles per day. The weasel, with its long, narrow body, is capable of burrowing into burrows and eating young.
Existing methods of controlling voles can be divided into two groups: preventive repellent and direct destruction.
The first preventative measure is to create a barrier of plants whose smell mice do not like - garlic, black root, imperial hazel grouse.
The second measure is that substances with an unbearable odor for voles are poured or placed in burrows, and they go to other places. Elderberry and thuja branches and leaves are suitable for this purpose. walnut, garlic cloves. You can make an infusion of elderberry and pour it into the holes: 1 kg of fresh elderberry leaves are infused for two weeks in 10 liters of water and used without diluting.
There is also a way to expel voles from holes: moisten a small piece of cotton wool or cloth with ammonia or kerosene, wrap it in plastic wrap with a small hole for the fumes to escape. Such “sweets” are placed in the discovered holes.
You can, of course, look for other strong-smelling substances, but do not forget about the safety of the soil, plants and people. You can also throw burdock heads into mouse holes, which, sticking to the animal’s skin, will significantly complicate its life.
According to some reports, underground inhabitants do not like sharp sounds and shaking of the soil. The noise and shaking deprive the voles of peace, and they try to go to a quieter and calmer place. Some people bury bottles in a slightly tilted position, and in windy weather the bottles make a buzzing sound. Another way is to dig small poles around the garden and hang on them, for example, aluminum cans or the so-called “wind music” (oriental bells).
And the most progressive way of fighting is traps. Recent studies have shown that mice (rodents) are most attracted not to cheese, but to nuts, chocolate and meat.
The inhabitants of underground passages (mice and moles) do not like soil shaking and sounds penetrating into the ground. This deprives them of peace, and they try to go to a safer place. Inventive gardeners came up with the idea of digging bottles along the edges of the beds, tilting them slightly so that the neck protrudes slightly above the soil. In windy weather they make a thin whistling sound. Those who tried this method were very pleased with the result: there were no moles or mice in the beds with bottles.
For more emotional people, this method is also suggested: stick a stick into the ground, put a metal tin can on its upper end and hit it with a hammer several times a day. This way you can solve two problems: scare away the mice and at the same time express your indignation.
There are also ancient, rather barbaric methods of killing mice. Powdered quicklime was mixed with an equal amount of sugar and scattered in the habitats of mice. In the stomach, lime, reacting with gastric juice, heats up and releases a large number of gas, which leads to the death of the animal.
Another way is to add a few drops to a mixture of equal amounts of gypsum and flour. sunflower oil and roll small balls out of it. Once in the stomach, hardened gypsum causes the death of mice.
Gardeners, who know that mice have a weakness for sunflower oil, suggest constructing primitive but effective bottle traps. The neck should be wide enough for a mouse to fit through. Pour a little sunflower oil into the bottom of the bottle and dig it into the ground so that the neck is at the same level with it. A vole, attracted by the smell of oil, climbs into the bottle but cannot get out.
This is interesting
Field mice - at first glance, these are ordinary inconspicuous rodents with a tail and extremely touching beady eyes. However, recent research on voles has simply excited the minds of scientists. Over the past million years, approximately 60 subspecies and species of field mice have evolved, which is a breakneck pace on a geological scale. Moreover, no specialist can visually distinguish all voles; this can be done, but only using genetic analysis methods. The animals themselves can classify each other instantly and never mate with individuals belonging to another population.
For scientists, the genome of voles seems completely absurd - a significant amount of hereditary information is located in the sex chromosomes (this is simply nonsense!), and the genetic material is distributed haphazardly. The total number of chromosomes varies from 17 to 64; their sets in males and females can either be the same or different. With all this, the offspring of field mice is an army of clones. They have no interspecies differences, but they are endowed with a mechanism for unmistakably recognizing each other. Scientists believe that such confusion could be the result of an evolutionary leap; in addition, not a single genus on Earth can boast of such a rapid pace of development - 60 branches in a million years.
It should be noted that the genes of voles have unique property"self-transplants". Here we need to clarify: in animal cells there are energy centers, called mitochondria, ATP (adenosine triphosphoric acid) synthesis occurs there - it supports more complex intracellular processes. Mitochondria themselves are practically independent structures, having their own DNA, membrane, and they even have their own mechanism for producing proteins. With basic hereditary information mitochondrial DNA does not contact in any way and is a “spare”. And in field mice, DNA fragments from mitochondria can penetrate the cell nucleus and integrate into the genome.
The world's leading laboratories spend quite a lot of money on gene transplant operations, and achieve precise gene matching only occasionally. Tiny field mice have learned to do this on their own. If people were endowed with such abilities, then hereditary diseases would have been ended long ago. Research in this area continues and, perhaps, these rodents will help humanity overcome many congenital diseases.
Voles, voles (Arvicolinae or Microtinae) are a subfamily of rodents in the hamster family. Includes voles, pied mole voles, lemmings and muskrats.
List of species
The subfamily consists of 7 tribes, 26 genera and 143 species:
Subfamily Arvicolinae
. Tribe Arvicolini
Water rats, water voles (Arvicola)
Long-clawed and Bedford's voles (Proedromys)
Yellow Pieds (Eolagurus)
Wormwood moth (Lemmiscus curtatus)
Gray voles (Microtus)
Snow voles (Chionomys)
Steppe Pieds (Lagurus)
Blanfordimys
Volemys
. Tribe Ondatrini
Muskrat, musk rat (Ondatra zibethicus)
Tribe Myodini
Cashmere voles (Hyperacrius)
Rock voles (Alticola)
Forest voles, red-backed voles (Myodes)
South Asian voles (Ethenomys)
Arborimus
Phenacomys
Dinaromys
. Tribe Prometheomyini
Promethean voles (Prometheomys)
. Tribe Ellobiini
Mole voles (Ellobius)
. Tribe Lemmini - lemmings
Swamp lemmings (Synaptomys)
Lemmings (Lemmus)
Forest Lemmings (Myopus)
. Tribe Neofibrini
Florida muskrats (Neofiber)
. Tribe Dicrostonychini
Hoofed lemmings (Dicrostonyx)
Voles include small mouse-like rodents with a body length of 7-36 cm. The tail is always shorter than the body - 5-29.5 cm. Voles weigh from 15 g to 1.8 kg. Outwardly, they resemble mice or rats, but in most cases they are clearly distinguished from them by their blunt muzzle, short ears and tail. The color of the top is usually monochromatic - gray or brownish. The molars in most species are without roots, constantly growing, less often with roots (in most extinct ones); on their chewing surface there are alternating triangular loops. 16 teeth.
Mole voles and Kashmir voles have adapted to an underground lifestyle. Other voles (muskrat, water rats), differing more large sizes bodies, lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle.
Lifestyle
They inhabit the continents and many islands of the Northern Hemisphere. The southern border of the range runs through North Africa (Libya), the Middle East, northern India, southwestern China, Taiwan, the Japanese and Commander Islands; V North America found as far as Guatemala. In the mountains they rise to the upper limit of vegetation. Greatest species diversity and reach high numbers in open landscapes of the temperate zone. They often live in large colonies. The food is dominated by aerial parts of plants; some species store food. They are active all year round and do not hibernate during the winter. They are very prolific, producing from 1 to 7 litters per year, with an average size of 3-7 cubs. In some species (muskrat, vole Microtus ochrogaster), males also take part in caring for the offspring. They reproduce throughout the warm period of the year, some species even in winter, under the snow. Pregnancy lasts 16-30 days. Young individuals become independent at 8-35 days and soon reach sexual maturity. Due to their high reproductive potential, the number of voles is subject to sharp fluctuations from year to year. Life expectancy in nature ranges from several months to 1-2 years. Also, voles are forced to flee from the northern white burrowing polecats, because they are their main food.
Conservation status
Many voles are serious pests of agricultural crops and natural carriers of pathogens of tularemia, leptospirosis and other diseases. Skins large species(muskrats) are used as fur raw material. Due to their high abundance and its cyclical fluctuations over the years, vole populations have a serious impact on the population size of predators, such as snowy owls and Canadian lynx.
Row rare species voles are listed in the International Red Book, including as “located in critical condition"(Critically Endangered):
. Vinogradov's Lemming (Dicrostonyx vinogradovi),
. Evoron vole (Microtus evoronensis),
. Muya vole (Microtus mujanensis),
As "Endangered":
. Alai mole mole (Ellobius alaicus),
. Balukhistan vole (Microtus kermanensis),
As "vulnerable":
. Central Kashmir vole (Alticola montosa),
. Mexican vole (Microtus mexicanus),
. Taiwan vole (Volemys kikuchii),
. Japanese red-backed vole (Myodes andersoni)
As “Near Threatened”:
. Forest lemming (Myopus schisticolor).
Vole family (Microtidae).
In Belarus it is distributed throughout the entire territory. Common, locally abundant species.
Common vole until recently, it was considered as a widespread polytypic species with a wide range. It turned out that the common vole sensu lato consists of at least 5 independent, but similar in morphological characteristics and species biology. On the territory of Belarus there are 2 such twin species: 46 and 54 chromosome voles. The first was named the common vole - Microtus arvalis. The second, 54-chromosome, is the Eastern European vole - Microtus rossiaemeridiaonalis.
The boundaries of the range of M. arvalis sensu stricto need clarification. The territory of Belarus is included in the range of both species. Proven findings of M. arvalis sensu stricto in Belarus are known in the Pinsk district of the Brest region, Vitebsk district of the Vitebsk region, Minsk and Stolbtsy districts of the Minsk region, Lida district of the Grodno region. The cohabitation of “twin” species has been established.
It is similar in appearance to a mouse, but has shorter ears, a tail and a compact build. Length: body 8.5-12.3 cm, tail 2.8-4.5 cm, feet 1.3-1.8 cm, ear 0.8-1.5 cm. Body weight 14-51 g. Individuals M. arvalis sensu stricto from Belarus varies in size. Body length in small forms is up to 100 mm, in large ones up to 135. Tail length in small ones is up to 34, large ones up to 51 mm. On average 33-37% of body length. The predominant color of the upper body is gray, brown and reddish shades may be observed. The number of plantar tubercles is 6, sometimes 5. The intraspecific taxonomy is quite confusing, especially in the central part of the range, and needs further study.
16 teeth. Unlike forest voles, the teeth do not have roots.
The color of the summer fur on the back and sides is gray-brown with a faint brownish tint, the belly is dirty whitish. Occasionally lighter specimens are also found. Their general coloration is brownish-gray, their abdomen is whitish with a faint yellowish tinge. The tail is one-color or slightly two-color.
By external signs from M. rosiaemeridionalis is not reliably identified. It differs from other voles of the genus Microtus by the presence on the outer side of the first molar tooth of the lower jaw of 4 protruding corners and on the chewing surface of this tooth by seven loops separated from each other.
In general, in Belarus the common vole sensu lato is found almost everywhere and is abundant everywhere. It lives in different habitats, but prefers open meadows, treeless spaces, especially agricultural lands. Agricultural lands on reclaimed lands are most intensively populated by the common vole, where the banks of all types of reclamation canals are the main habitats for breeding and survival of the vole. In places it is numerous, especially in meadows, areas with sown grass, clearings among shrubs, clearings, and gardens. It is rare in mature deciduous and pine forests and completely absent in spruce forests. In winter, it can be found in stacks, stacks, piles of potatoes, gardens, and human buildings. The attraction to open biotopes is a feature of the common vole sensu stricto, while the Eastern European vole gravitates to sparse forests or clearings surrounded by massifs, a mosaic forest-field landscape.
Lives in burrows of varying complexity and depth depending on living conditions. Burrows are made on roadsides, boundaries, wastelands, and the banks of reclamation canals. In open areas, burrows are located at a depth of 10-30 cm, in the arable layer no deeper than 50-60 cm (maximum up to 70 cm). The depth at which the gray vole nests depends significantly on the season, vegetation cover, and the nature of the relief.
In places of settlement it forms peculiar colonies. Each burrow has several chambers (for nesting and for food supplies) and exit holes. Several burrows extend from the nesting chamber in different directions, some of them open with exits to the surface of the earth, and some end in dead ends, probably hiding places. The nesting chamber has the shape of an elongated ball with a diameter of 8-10 cm, Savitsky et al. (2005) indicate 14-16 cm. The nest is built from cereals thinly split along the stems. Very dry. The inner part is completely lined with pieces of leaves, stems of cereals, and Asteraceae down. The exits from the burrows and feeding areas are connected by paths. Under favorable conditions, the same burrows are used for several years, which leads to their maximum complexity. A vole sometimes digs a hole from different ends, and quite accurately leads one hole to another. Winter burrows are made between the ground and snow; When the snow melts, they remain in the form of characteristic “earthen sausages.”
The mobility of the vole is low: daily feeding movements are carried out within a radius of 15-20 m. The young remain to live next to their parents. Voles have a well-developed “home instinct”: animals caught and carried at a distance of up to 2.5 km are able to return to their family. Migration of animals can only occur in the absence of food. This usually happens on arable land after harvesting. The animals swim well.
The vole is one of the herbivorous rodents; its food range is very diverse. Green parts of plants make up 88%, seeds of cultivated plants - 35.1%, wild plants - 27.3%. In spring and summer these are young shoots of plants: mainly cereals and asteraceae. In autumn, berries predominate, in winter - seeds and tree bark, green or dry vegetative parts of plants. The set of food plants is determined by the composition of the soil and the area where the vole lives. On average, per day the animal eats an amount of food equal to 50-70% of its body weight. The instinct to store food is very poorly developed.
Voles reproduce from April to October. In the southwestern part of Belarus, in normal seasons, it begins breeding in the first ten days of April. Environmentally favorable years 10-15 days earlier, in unfavorable days - the same period later, in the central part of the country 5-7 days later. Only in places with an abundance of high-calorie food (in haystacks, straw stacks) does this cycle continue in winter time. Females reach sexual maturity at the age of 20-30 days with a body weight of 12 to 20 g. Males become sexually mature at the age of 30-45 days with a body weight of 18-25 g. The duration of pregnancy is slightly more than 20 days. During a season, a female can bring up to 5 litters of 2-9 cubs (usually 4-6). Under natural conditions, a female manages to have no more than 4 broods, more often 1-3, which is associated with a total life expectancy of no more than 8-10 months. By September, overwintered (last year's) animals make up no more than 5% of the population. The first two generations of the current year begin to reproduce in July - August, managing to produce 1-2 litters per season. The weight of the naked and blind cubs born is 1.2-2.3 g, body length 34-39 mm. They grow very quickly. By 10 days of age, the weight reaches 6-8 g, the body is completely covered with fur, the eyes open, the animals begin to move freely and obtain food on their own, and at the age of 3 weeks they are capable of settling.
Adult voles often live in pairs, with the male also taking care of the offspring. A female can show “collectivism”: feed and raise newborns in her own and someone else’s nest, or 2 females can bring offspring into one nest. Males are polygamous.
The common vole plays a significant role in nutrition carnivorous mammals. In the diet of owls (long-eared owl, tawny owl) this is the absolutely dominant group. In the Brest and Grodno regions, it makes up 64.89% of occurrences in the diet of these birds, which is 3.5 times more than the share of the three subdominant food items combined.
The common vole is a major and very serious pest of agricultural crops. It eats almost all cultivated plants. First of all, crops of perennial grasses are damaged - clover, alfalfa, grass mixtures; legumes - peas, vetch; grains - wheat, rye, oats and, to a lesser extent, barley. By autumn, vole populations reach high numbers and are capable of destroying a significant portion of the crop. In meadows where vole colonies are located, the grass is almost completely destroyed, and the piles of earth that the animals throw out when digging holes make it difficult to mechanized grass harvesting. In gardens under the snow, voles eat the bark and roots at the base fruit trees. Settling in the basements of residential buildings, they damage stocks of grain, root crops, cabbage, and potatoes. Animals can be a source of human infection with tularemia, leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, listeriosis and swine erysipelas.
Common voles live for 8-9 months; individuals under the age of 14 months and older are rarely found in nature.
