1. Description

2. Predators

3. Lifespan

4. Genetics and sexual behavior

5. Mating system

6. Inbreeding avoidance

7. Empathy and consolation

8. Vole clock

9. Classification

10. References

11. External links

• Arborimus – tree voles
• Arvicolini
• Ellobiusini – mole voles
• Myodini
• Phenacomys – heather voles
• Pliomyini
• Prometheomyini

• Dicrostonychini - collared lemmings
• Lagurini
• Lemmini
• Neofibrini
• Ondatrini - muskrat

Voles are small rodents that are relatives of the mouse, but with a stouter body, a shorter, hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, smaller ears and eyes, and differently formed molars (high-crowned and with angular cusps instead of low-crowned and with rounded cusps). There are approximately 155 species of voles. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America and Australia. Vole species form the subfamily Arvicolinae with the lemmings and the muskrats.

Description

They are small rodents that grow to {{convert|3|-|9|in|cm|abbr=on}}, depending on the species. Females can have five to 10 litters per year. Gestation lasts for three weeks and the young voles reach sexual maturity in a month. As a result of this biological exponential growth, vole populations can grow very large within a very short time. Since litters average five to 10 young, a mating pair can birth a hundred more voles in a year.

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 or rats, they can live on almost any nut or fruit. In addition, voles target plants more than most other small animals, making their presence evident. Voles readily girdle small trees and ground cover much like a porcupine. This girdling can easily kill young plants and is not healthy for trees or other shrubs.

Voles often eat succulent root systems and burrow under plants or ground cover and eat away until the plant is dead. Bulbs in the ground are another favorite target for voles; their excellent burrowing and tunnelling skills give them access to sensitive areas without clear or early warning. The presence of large numbers of voles is often only identifiable after they have destroyed a number of plants. However, like other burrowing rodents, they also play beneficial roles, including dispersing nutrients throughout the upper soil layers.^[1]

Predators

Many predators eat voles, including martens, owls, hawks, falcons, coyotes, bobcats, foxes, raccoons, snakes, weasels, and lynxes. Vole bones are often found in the pellets of the short-eared owl, the northern spotted owl, the saw-whet owl, the barn owl, the great gray owl, and the northern pygmy owl.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

Lifespan

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 usually die during their second, or rarely their third, winter. As many as 88% of voles are estimated to die within the first month of life.^[2]

Genetics and sexual behavior

The prairie vole is a notable animal model for its monogamous sexual fidelity, since the male is usually faithful to the female, and shares in the raising of pups. The woodland vole is also usually monogamous. Another species from the same genus, the meadow vole, has promiscuously mating males, and scientists have changed adult male meadow voles' behavior to resemble that of prairie voles in experiments in which a single gene was introduced into the brain by a virus.^[3]

The behavior is influenced by the number of repetitions of a particular string of microsatellite DNA. Male prairie voles with the longest DNA strings spend more time with their mates and pups than male prairie voles with shorter strings.^[4] However, other scientists have disputed the gene's relationship to monogamy, and cast doubt on whether the human version plays an analogous role.^[5] Physiologically, pair-bonding behavior has been shown to be connected 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 also been shown in experiments to be strongly modifiable by administering some of these substances directly.

Voles have a number of unusual chromosomal traits. Species have been found 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 found on the Y chromosome has been found in both males and females in at least one species. In another species, the X chromosome contains 20% of the genome. All of these variations result in very little physical aberration; most vole species are virtually indistinguishable.^[6]

Mating system

The genus microtus mating system includes both monogamous and polygamous behaviors which induces differing patterns in mate choice and parental care. Environmental conditions have shown to be a large part in dictating which system is active in a given population, as a result this can be understood as a plastic mating system. In any species, mating systems are driven to most efficiently reproduce by allocating time and energy as best fit. Voles live in colonies due to the young remaining in the family group for relatively long periods.^[7] In the microtus genus 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.^[8] Vole mating systems are also sensitive to the operation sex ratio (OSR) and are found to tend toward monogamy when the ratios of males to females is 1, where this ratio is greater than 1 and more males are present or less than 1 and more females are present polygamy is typically induced^[9] However the most marked effect on mating system is population density and these effects can take place both inter and intra-specifically^[8]

Male voles are shown to be territorial and tend to include territories of several female voles when possible, under these conditions polyandry exists and low male parental care is offered.^[10] Males mark and aggressively defend their territories and such marking initiate female preference where females are found to prefer males with the most recent marking in a given area^[11]

Female and male preference are widely shown to be for familiar mates indicated through olfactory sensory exploitation and differ only slightly between monogamous and non-monogamous systems in that monogamous voles show preference for males who have yet to mate in contrast to non-monogamous voles who do not have a significant preference for this trait.^[12] Mate preference in voles has been shown to be developed through cohabitation in as little as a 24-hour period.^[11] This does drive young male voles to show non-limiting preference toward female siblings, however this is not inclusive to females preference for males which may help to explain the absence of interbreeding indicators (see Inbreeding avoidance).

Although little female territoriality seems to exist, under pair bonding conditions females have a tendency to show aggression toward other female voles.^[12] This behavior is flexible as some microtus species females share dens during winter months perhaps to conserve heat and energy under more extraneous conditions.^[13] Sexual dimorphism is also affected by the heterogeneous nature of the vole mating system where populations which are monogamous show insignificant size differences between genders in contrast with polygamous systems realizing larger male body size.^[14]

Inbreeding avoidance

The grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) exhibits male-biased dispersal as a means of avoiding incestuous matings.^[15] Among those matings that do involve inbreeding, the number of weaned juveniles in litters is significantly fewer than that from noninbred litters, indicating inbreeding depression.

Brandt’s vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii) lives in groups that mainly consist of close relatives. However, they show no sign of inbreeding.^[16] The mating system 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 that occurs primarily during the mating season.^[16] Such a strategy is likely an adaptation to avoid the inbreeding depression that would be caused by expression of deleterious recessive alleles if close relatives mated.

Empathy and consolation

A 2016 study into the behavior of voles, Microtus ochrogaster specifically, found that voles comfort each other when mistreated, spending more time grooming a mistreated vole. Voles that were not mistreated had levels of stress-hormones that were similar 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's receptors for oxytocin, a hormone involved in empathy. When the oxytocin receptors were blocked this behavior stopped.^[17]

This type of empathetic behavior has previously been thought to only occur in animals with advanced cognition, such as humans, apes, and elephants.

Vole clock

The vole clock is a method of dating archaeological strata using vole teeth.^[18]

Classification

• Order Rodentia
  • Superfamily Muroidea
  • Family Cricetidae
  • Subfamily Arvicolinae (in part)
  • 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 Lagurini
  • Genus Lagurus – steppe vole (also called steppe lemming)
  • Tribe Myodini
  • Genus Alticola – voles from Central Asia
  • Genus Caryomys
  • Genus Eothenomys – voles from East Asia
  • Genus Hyperacrius – voles from India (True's vole), Afghanistan and Pakistan (Murree's vole)
  • Genus Myodes – red-backed voles
  • Tribe Pliomyini
  • Genus Dinaromys – voles from the Dinaric Alps
  • incertae sedis
  • Genus Arborimus – tree voles
  • Genus Phenacomys – heather voles

References

External links

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ddlKQwDIe8&feature=channel_page National Geographic video].

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