Common vole (Microtus arvalis). Common vole - Abstract Description of the vole

Vole family (Microtidae).

In Belarus, it is distributed throughout the territory. Common, locally abundant.

Until recently, the common vole was considered as a widespread polytypic species with an extensive range. It turned out that the common vole sensu lato consists of at least 5 independent, but similar in morphological features and biology of species. On the territory of Belarus there are 2 such twin species: 46 and 54 chromosome voles. The first was called the common vole - Microtus arvalis. The second, 54th chromosome - Eastern European vole - Microtus rossiaemeridiaonalis.

The boundaries of the range of M. arvalis sensu stricto need to be clarified. The territory of Belarus is included in the range of both species. Proven finds of M. arvalis sensu stricto in Belarus are known in the territory of the Pinsk region of the Brest region, Vitebsk region of the Vitebsk region, Minsk and Stolbtsovsky regions of the Minsk region, Lida region 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 vary in size. Body length in small forms up to 100 mm, in large ones up to 135 mm. Tail length in small ones 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 can be observed. The number of plantar tubercles is 6, sometimes 5. Intraspecific taxonomy is rather confused, especially in the central part of the range, and needs further study.

Teeth 16. Unlike forest voles teeth have no roots.

The color of the summer fur of the back and sides is gray-brown with a slight brownish tinge, the abdomen is dirty whitish. Occasionally there are also lighter specimens. Their general coloration is brownish-gray, the abdomen is whitish with a slight yellowish coating. The tail is one-color or slightly two-color.

By outward signs from M. rosiaemeridionalis is not reliably identified. It differs from other voles of the genus Microtus by the presence of the first molar on the outer side. mandible 4 protruding corners and on the chewing surface of this tooth there are seven loops separated from each other.

In general, the common vole sensu lato is found almost everywhere in Belarus and is numerous everywhere. It lives in different habitats, but prefers open meadow, treeless spaces, especially agricultural land. Most intensively populated by the common vole are agricultural lands on reclaimed lands, where the banks of all types of reclamation canals are the main habitats for reproduction and survival of the vole. In some places it is numerous, especially in meadows, lands with sown grasses, clearings among bushes, clearings, and gardens. In ripe deciduous and pine forests rare and completely absent in spruce trees. In winter, it can be found in stacks, haystacks, piles of potatoes, gardens, and in human buildings. The attraction to open biotopes is a feature of the common vole sensu stricto, while the Eastern European vole tends to sparse forests or clearings surrounded by massifs, a mosaic forest-field landscape.

Lives in burrows of varying complexity and depth depending on habitat conditions. Burrows are arranged on roadsides, borders, wastelands, banks of reclamation canals. On open places burrows are located at a depth of 10-30 cm, in the arable layer no deeper than 50-60 cm (up to a maximum of 70 cm). The depth at which the nest of the gray vole is arranged 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 (nesting and food stores) and outlets. Several burrows branch off from the nesting chamber in different directions; 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 grasses thinly split along the stems. Very dry. Inner part completely lined with pieces of leaves, stems of cereals, down of Compositae. The exits from the burrows and feeding places are connected by paths. Under favorable conditions, the same burrows are used for several years, which leads to their maximum complexity. The vole sometimes digs a hole from different ends, and quite accurately brings one move to another. Winter holes are laid between the earth and snow; when the snow melts, they remain in the form of characteristic "earth sausages".

Vole mobility is low: daily foraging 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 "instinct at home": animals caught and carried to a distance of up to 2.5 km are able to return to their native family. Animal migration can only occur in the absence of food. This usually happens on arable land after harvest. The animals are good swimmers.

The vole belongs to the herbivorous rodents, its food set 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 Compositae. In autumn, berries predominate, in winter - seeds and bark of trees, green or dry vegetative parts of plants. The set of forage plants is determined by the composition of soils 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.

Vole breeding occurs from April to October. In the southwestern part of Belarus, in normal seasons, it starts breeding in the first ten days of April. In ecologically favorable years it is 10-15 days earlier, in unfavorable years it is the same period later, in the central part of the country it is 5-7 days later. Only in places with an abundance of high-calorie food (in haystacks, stacks of straw) does this cycle continue for winter time. Females reach puberty 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 the season, the female can bring up to 5 litters of 2-9 cubs (usually 4-6). Under natural conditions, the female manages to have no more than 4 broods, more often 1-3, which is associated with total duration life, not exceeding 8-10 months. By September, overwintered (last year's) animals make up no more than 5% of the populations. The first two generations of the current year begin to breed in July - August, having time to bring 1-2 litters per season. The weight of born naked and blind cubs is 1.2-2.3 g, body length is 34-39 mm. They grow very fast. By the age of 10 days, the mass reaches 6-8 g, the body is completely covered with fur, the eyes open, the animals begin to move freely and independently obtain food, and at the age of 3 weeks they are able to resettle.

Adult voles often live in pairs, and the male also takes care of the offspring. The 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 predatory mammals. In the diet of owls ( long-eared owl, tawny owl) is an absolutely dominant group. In the Brest and Grodno regions, it makes up 64.89% of the 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 the main 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, wikis; cereals - wheat, rye, oats and, to a lesser extent, barley. By autumn, vole populations reach high numbers and are able to destroy a significant part of the crop. In the meadows, where the vole colonies are located, the grass is almost completely destroyed, and the heaps of earth that the animals throw out when digging holes make it difficult to mechanized grass harvesting. In gardens covered with snow, voles eat bark and roots at the base. fruit trees. Settling in the basements of residential buildings, they damage the 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.

Conservation status and conclusion

The common vole is a widespread species, most of whose populations, living in different natural areas are relatively numerous. The response to human economic activity is not unambiguous. Agricultural transformation of natural landscapes contributes to an increase in the number of the species. In connection with this feature, it was proposed to call the common vole an agrocenophile (Tupikova et al., 2001). During the years of mass reproduction, it can cause significant damage. agriculture, has considerable epidemiological significance, being a carrier of pathogens of tularemia, leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis and other diseases dangerous to humans. In this regard, it is necessary to control the abundance of the species.

Description

The fur color of voles can vary considerably from pale fawn-gray light fawn-brown to darkish gray-brown, sometimes with an admixture of brown-rusty tones. The abdomen is usually lighter: dirty gray, sometimes with a yellowish-ocher bloom. The tail is either single or slightly bicolor. The dorsal fur of the nominal race is brownish-brown. Voles of the "arvalis" form from central Russia are lighter in color, while the darkest coloration is in the "obscurus" form (Ognev, 1950; Malygin, 1983).

The common vole is a small animal. Body length is variable. Weight usually does not exceed 45 g. The tail is 30-40% of the length of the head and body. The average foot is 15.5 mm. The ears are small, round and slightly protruding from the fur. Condylobasal length of the skull on average - 24.5 mm, zygomatic width - 14.0, length in the upper row of molars - ranges from 5-7 mm, the lower - 4-6.5 (Ognev, 1950; Malygin, 1983; Meyer et al., 1996). The ridges on the skull are weakly expressed. Upper M2 with two inward-protruding corners. In the overwhelming majority of individuals, the M3 variant "typica" (Malygin, 1983). Its last posterior lobe does not form a strongly pronounced arcuate bend. The lower M1 has at least 7 closed spaces, rarely 8. There are 6 calluses on the back foot (Ognev, 1950).

Spreading

The range of the species is extensive: from Atlantic coast in the west to the Mongolian Altai in the east, from Baltic Sea, Finland, Karelia, the Middle Urals and Western Siberia in the north to the Balkans, the Black Sea, and Asia Minor in the south (Malygin, 1983; Baranovsky et al., 1994; Common vole…, 1994; Meyer et al., 1996). The species has been recorded in Transcaucasia and Mongolia. In Russia western border distribution of the common vole coincides with the state. In the north of the European part of the country it goes from Karelia and Leningrad region. In the south through Moldova and Ukraine to the north Caspian lowland and the Caucasus.

biotopes

The range of habitats is varied. The biotopic preference of the common vole can be influenced by various factors. First of all, natural and climatic. So, on the northern outskirts of its range in the zone of taiga forests, the vole (form "obscurus") tends to field and meadow cenoses, reaching 49 and 30.2% of the total population small mammals. Settles even in areas around livestock farms. According to Bashenina in 1979, 1980 and 1983. in the foothills of the Urals, the common vole lived in meadows and small agricultural crops, in kitchen gardens, orchards, and clearings. IN similar types biotopes, it was also found in the Trans-Urals. Avoiding solid forest areas in Western Siberia, the vole is common in sparse birch groves and in thickets of shrubs along rivers (Malygin, 1983). But even here before Irkutsk region it prefers habitats with a well-developed grass cover (Bashenina, 1968; Shvetsov et al., 1981). In the more southern part of its range, M. a. obscurus tends to wetter biotopes: floodplain meadows, depressions, ravines, irrigated orchards and orchards (Common vole..., 1994). However, it is also common here in xerophilic cenoses: dry steppes, fixed sands outside the desert zone (Nikitina et al., 1972; Tikhonov et al., 1996; Tikhonova et al., 1999). In the foothills of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the vole also gravitates towards agricultural land. In this region, it has mastered the slopes of the mountains, populating steppe areas, glades, river valleys, and arable land. rises to alpine meadows also inhabits rocky areas. "Mountain" populations of this species are found at an altitude of 1800-3000 m above sea level. m .: in high-mountain subalpine and alpine meadows and mountain oak, beech and hornbeam formations (Common vole ..., 1994).

Voles of the "arvalis" form in the very north of the range and in the forest zone demonstrate a biotopic distribution similar to the "obscurus" form, tending to meadow-type cenoses and agricultural lands (Mokeeva and Chentsova, 1981; Dobrokhotov et al., 1985; Teslenko and Zagorodnyuk, 1986 ; Tikhonov et al., 1992; Karaseva et al., 1994; and others). In the zone deciduous forests and forest-steppe is often found in sparse forest biotopes, along river valleys, gullies, forest belts.

According to our data, the common vole avoids areas subject to intense anthropogenic pressure and transformation (Tikhonov et al., 1992; 1996, 1998; Tikhonov and Tikhonova 1997; Tikhonov, 1995).

Ecology

The common vole is an ecologically plastic species. Typically herbivorous rodent, whose diet includes a wide range of foods. According to generalized data, voles from different regions usually eat at least 80 plant species, preferring the families of cereals, Asteraceae, and legumes (Common vole..., 1994). There is a seasonal change in food. Propensity to reserve is expressed. In France, animals of the form "arvalis" stocked up to 3 kg (Renierd and Pussard, 1926). Similar food pantries were found in voles in the Leningrad region. (Gladkina and Chentsova, 1971) and on the territory of Kazakhstan (Gladkina, 1972).

The common vole is a family-colonial species. The family, as a rule, consists of a female and her offspring of the 3rd or 4th generation (Frank, 1954; Bashenina, 1962). In such settlements, animals dig complex system burrows and tread a network of paths. In winter they make snow nests on the ground. The common vole is characterized by territorial conservatism, but if necessary, during harvesting and plowing fields, it can migrate to other biotopes, including haystacks, vegetable and granaries (Common vole..., 1994).

The species is characterized by seasonal and annual fluctuations in abundance. The minimum level of abundance of populations was noted in spring. The features of these fluctuations may also have geographic specifics. In the pessimum of the range, long-term depressions in the abundance of the species are possible. IN middle lane In Russia, they usually alternate with years of high numbers.

Behavior

Ecological features of the common vole determine the ethological structure of its populations. Animals of this species do not form continuous settlements, but live in clearly defined colonies separated from each other and attached to their family groups (Frank, 1954; Bashenina, 1962). In all parts of its range, the species has polyphasic circadian activity. On average, over a 3-hour period, voles observed 2-4 acts of sleep, 3-9 cleanings, 2-6 nest improvement from 6 to 20 feedings and 14-47% of the total activity falls on locomotion (walking, jogging) (common vole ..., 1994; own data).

The pronounced territoriality of voles is also reflected in their social behavior. Intragroup interactions of animals are reduced mainly to simple identification contacts, somewhat less often - friendly (Zorenko, 1978, 1984; own data). An important element social behavior, indicating the tolerance of individuals to each other, is crowding. Common voles can show aggression towards members of their group. More often this form of behavior is shown by males. Aggression towards other individuals of its own species and, especially, towards East European voles (up to killing) is most acutely manifested. Common voles are very emotional. We noted cases of death of animals due to nervous overstrain during aggressive interactions.

Animals of this species are very cautious and tend to be neophobic (Common vole..., 1994; Fedorovich et al., 2000). Under experimental conditions during orienting and research activities, common voles in more relied on the sense of smell and, to a lesser extent, on the vibrissa sense of touch and vision (own data).

reproduction

Depending on weather conditions in different regions In Russia, the reproductive period in common voles usually begins in March-April and ends in September-November (Common vole ..., 1994; Tikhonova, Tikhonov, 1995; Tikhonov et al., 1998). In winter, there is usually a pause. But in closed habitats (haystacks, stacks, vegetable and granaries), reproduction can continue in winter. During the reproductive season in nature, female common voles can bring 2-4 broods, in laboratory conditions - more (Common vole ..., 1994; Gladkina, 1996). The size of the litter depends on a number of factors: the age and physical condition of females, the season, habitat conditions, mating patterns, and many others (Zorenko, 1972; Zorenko and Zakharov, 1986). According to the combined data, the average number of pups in a litter of the common vole is about 5 (Common vole..., 1994). The study of the reproduction strategy of this species showed that its natural populations under the size of broods (Tikhonov et al., 1999).

The common vole belongs to the hamster family and is included in the genus gray voles. The habitat covers the steppe, forest-steppe and forest zones Europe and Asia from the Atlantic coast to Eastern Siberia. In the north, the animal can be found in Finland, Karelia, in the Northern Urals, and in the south in the Crimea, Asia Minor, Northern Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. Representatives of the species do not live in dense forests. They live only in light forests, in glades and edges. They feel comfortable at an altitude of up to 3 thousand meters above sea level.

The body length is 10-14 cm. The length of the tail reaches 5 cm. The weight is 45-50 g. The color of the skin varies from light brown to dark brown. The belly is lighter than the rest of the body and has a dark gray color with a yellowish tint. The lightest common voles live in Russia.

Reproduction and lifespan

Pregnancy lasts from 16 to 24 days. In the litter there are from 3 to 8 cubs weighing from 1 to 3 g. Milk feeding is 3 weeks. mating season starts in March and ends in October. During this time, females usually have 3 reproductive cycles. IN wild nature The common vole usually lives 4-5 months. Most adult animals die in October, and the last offspring survive the winter and begin reproduction the following spring.

At birth, the number of females and males is approximately equal. However, males die more often and the ratio changes in favor of females 4:1. Population density varies throughout the year and has significant fluctuations that occur in 3-year and 5-year cycles. The number of individuals per 1 hectare can vary from 100 ( low level) up to 500 (medium level). The level of 2000 individuals per 1 hectare is considered high. This happens once every few years.

Behavior and nutrition

Animals are active at dusk and at night. In winter, they can be active around the clock. They live in burrows in family groups, in which there are up to 5 females with young. Males live in separate areas that overlap those of females. Burrows reach a depth of 30-40 cm and have many passages. They serve for the rest of common voles and for storing food supplies.

On the ground, animals move along the same paths. IN winter period such paths turn into passages under the snow. In relation to alien individuals, they behave aggressively and are not allowed into their territory. The diet includes vegetable food. These are various herbs and crops. In addition, insects, their larvae, and mollusks are eaten. Food reserves in burrows can reach up to 3 kg. Representatives of the species inflict great harm agriculture and are considered pests. They are also carriers of dangerous infectious diseases.

Introduction

common vole (Microtus arvalis) - a species of rodents of the genus gray voles.

1. Appearance

Small animal; body length is variable, 9-14 cm. Weight usually does not exceed 45 g. The tail is 30-40% of the body length - up to 49 mm. The color of the fur on the back can vary from light brown to darkish gray-brown, sometimes with an admixture of brown-rusty tones. The abdomen is usually lighter: dirty gray, sometimes with a yellowish-buffy coating. The tail is either single or slightly bicolor. The most lightly colored voles 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 the Atlantic coast in the west to the Mongolian Altai in the east. In the north, the border of the range runs along the coast of the Baltic Sea, southern Finland, southern Karelia, the Middle Urals and Western Siberia; in the south - along the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, the Crimea and the north of Asia Minor. It is also found in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, in Northern Kazakhstan, in the southeast Central Asia, 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. It avoids solid forests, although it is found in clearings, clearings and edges, in light forests, in riverine thickets of shrubs, and forest belts. It prefers places with well-developed grass cover. In the southern part of its range, it gravitates towards more humid biotopes: floodplain meadows, gullies, river valleys, although it also occurs 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 round-the-clock, but intermittent. Lives in family settlements, as a rule, consisting of 1-5 related females and their offspring of 3-4 generations. The sites of adult males occupy 1200-1500 m² and cover the sites of several females. In their settlements, voles dig a complex system of holes and tread a network of paths, which in winter turn into snowy passages. The animals rarely leave the paths, which allow them to move faster and easier to navigate. The depth of the holes is small, only 20-30 cm. The animals protect their territory from alien individuals of their own and other types of voles (up to killing). During periods of high abundance, colonies of several colonies often form in grain fields and other feeding places.

The common vole is distinguished by territorial conservatism, but if necessary, during harvesting and plowing fields, it can move to other biotopes, including stacks, haystacks, vegetable and granaries, 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. Characterized by a seasonal change in diet. 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 at the bark of shrubs and trees, including berries and fruits; eats seeds and underground parts of plants. Makes food stocks 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 (haystacks, stacks, outbuildings), if there is sufficient food, it can continue to breed. In one reproductive season, a female can bring 2-4 broods, a maximum in the middle lane - 7, in the south of the range - up to 10. Pregnancy lasts 16-24 days. The litter has an average of 5 cubs, although their number can reach 15; cubs weigh 1-3.1 g. Young voles become independent on the 20th day of life. They begin to breed at 2 months of age. 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 of the voles die, the young of the last litters hibernate and start 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.

4. Conservation status

The common vole is a widespread and numerous species that easily adapts to economic activity human and the transformation of natural landscapes. The number, like many fertile animals, varies greatly by season and year. Characterized by outbreaks of numbers, followed by prolonged depressions. In general, fluctuations look like a 3- or 5-year cycle. In the years of the highest abundance, the density of populations can reach 2000 individuals per ha, in the years of depressions falling to 100 individuals per ha.

It is one of the most serious pests of agriculture, horticulture and horticulture, especially during the years of mass reproduction. It harms grain and other crops on the vine and in stacks, 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.

The field mouse is a small rodent distributed throughout the world. Refers to the most numerous species of mammals - the classification of mice. There are over 100 species on earth. Perfectly adapt to any conditions of existence. There are no mice only high in the mountains, in an area covered with ice.

Appearance

little animal It is called differently: field, meadow, vole, baby, striped. Appearance is familiar to everyone, since field mice are frequent roommates of people. In cold weather or with the onset of others adverse conditions V natural environment move to barns, warehouses, sheds, outbuildings, houses. Often live in gardens, vegetable gardens, household plots.

Field Mouse Description:

• The maximum body length is not more than 12 cm, the average size is 10 cm, excluding the tail. A thin tail makes up 70% of the body length.
• The body is elongated, the hind feet are elongated. When running, always come forward.
• Long muzzle, small round ears, oblong nose.

The appearance is very attractive, harmless, cute. Especially interesting red nose. does not differ from the general proportions of most species of these rodents.

The coat is short, hard and has an uneven color. The belly is always lighter, the back with a black stripe. You can tell a vole by the stripe on its back. Coloring, color of wool varies depending on the region. Mouse vole is gray, brown, ocher, red. IN summer period darker, by winter begins to change. Below are field mice in the photo, you can see the differences between the animal and other rodents clearly.

Interesting!

A vole's unique teeth grow throughout its life. Except for a row of small teeth in the upper jaw. The lower jaw has a pair of long incisors. They appear in the second month of life of mice, grow by 1-2 mm daily. To prevent excessive increase in teeth, rodents are forced to grind them down constantly. Biting hard objects that do not represent nutritional value but surrounding them.

How much a small animal weighs is not difficult to guess. A small animal gains no more than 30 g in weight. On average, a field mouse weighs 20 g.

food addictions

What the field mouse eats is of interest to most of the population. Since pests gnaw almost everything - wood, concrete structures, bricks. Some, plastic, rubber and other synthetic materials.

Lifestyle

In countries with warm climate meadow mouse active all year round. In our area, with the onset of cold weather, mice do not hibernate, but the process of reproduction of a new generation slows down. Relatively well tolerated low temperature. They can safely overwinter on the field.

How field mice hibernate depends on the objects around them, natural conditions. In the warm season, rodents live in the field, with an increase in numbers, the onset of adverse weather, cataclysms - fire, drought, flood, premature frosts, they settle in gardens and kitchen gardens. Each individual arranges housing for itself at a depth of about 1 m, in winter it goes down to 3 m deep. Usually, a meadow mouse hibernates in a hole.

Interesting!

The home of the vole includes a nest where mice are born, grow up, several chambers with food supplies, labyrinths of passages with an obligatory exit to the water.

In addition to the burrow, wintering occurs in haystacks, stacks left on the field, stacks, in barns, sheds, outbuildings. The most daring or arrogant sneak into the house. The question of where voles live in winter can be answered ambiguously - wherever possible.

Hibernation is uncharacteristic for the field mouse. The rodent living in our area cannot hibernate. With insufficient food, if the animal could not stock food, it risks dying. In winter, it occasionally comes to the surface during a thaw.

On a note!

Some varieties of voles sleep in winter, they can wake up with the onset of heat. They prefer to sleep in a hole. They begin to accumulate useful substances in the summer, a layer of fat is deposited, which disappears over the winter.

Behavioral features

Field mice are extremely active, mobile, which is associated with the peculiarities of metabolism. During the day, the rodent eats about 6 times, but quickly consumes energy. Cannot stand hunger, even more thirsty. Without food, water lives no more than a week.

They adapt well to new conditions. They move along mastered lines, certain trajectories. They mark their territory with urine. Activities are activated after dark. In dark rooms they are active during the day.

Mice are extremely cautious, which makes them shy in the eyes of a person. The slightest rustle, the sound makes the rodent run for cover, hide in a mink. Enemies of mice: lizards, snakes, rats, dogs, cats, wild animals. Danger lurks at every turn. Who eats a field mouse can be listed for a long time.

A 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 packs, where there is a leader - a male, several dominant females.

On a note!

Life expectancy in the wild is 1 year, although according to genetic data they can live up to 7 years. Predators are to blame for everything, who daily hunt for field mice. How long they live in artificial conditions depends on the conditions of detention, proper nutrition. Average age- 3 years.

Reproduction features

The field mouse becomes sexually mature after 3 months. A young female produces from 1 to 3 cubs, an adult - up to 12 in one litter. Pregnancy lasts about 25 days.

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 equip their own housing, get food.

After 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

The field mouse can cause enormous damage to agriculture. It digs numerous holes in the fields, damages ears of wheat, leaves mounds of earth. As a result, this makes it difficult to harvest, the grain loses its presentation.

Settling in barns, warehouses, and other premises where a person began to store cereals, grain, flour, mice eat up a third of the reserves during the winter. Contaminate the product with faeces, urine. There is an unpleasant mouse smell in the room.

On a note!

The vole does not bite. At the sight of a person, he tries to quickly hide. But, being driven into a corner, it is able to pierce with sharp teeth. Dangerous spread of viral, bacterial, fungal infections, tularemia, plague, fever, rabies.

Rodent control

An increase in the number of mice in the field threatens with serious losses for agricultural workers. No less damage from rodents in the garden, in the garden. Poison baits are used to kill pests. Struggling,. In the premises they use, products with a pungent odor,. Preventive measures are also important.