Heather vole facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Heather volesTemporal range: Early Pleistocene - Recent
|
|
|---|---|
Scientific classification  |
|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Arvicolinae |
| Genus: | Phenacomys Merriam, 1889 |
| Species | |
The Phenacomys genus includes small North American voles, often called heather voles. Their name comes from Greek words meaning "imposter mouse". This is because they look a lot like other voles.
Heather voles live in forests, mountains, and tundra areas. These places often have plants from the heath family. They are small rodents with long fur, short ears, short legs, and short tails.
In summer, they eat green plants, seeds, and berries. At other times, they eat bark and buds from shrubs. Animals that hunt them include mustelids (like weasels), owls, and hawks.
Some scientists used to include tree voles (genus Arborimus) in this group. Also, the two main types of heather voles were once thought to be just one species.
The living species of heather voles are:
- Western heather vole (Phenacomys intermedius)
- Eastern heather vole (Phenacomys ungava)
Scientists believe heather voles first appeared a long time ago. Their unique teeth suggest they evolved early in vole history. This likely happened in Beringia (the land bridge between Asia and North America). The oldest American fossils of heather voles are about 1.5 million years old. They were found in Idaho. Fossils of two extinct species have also been found in Yakutia. During the Ice Ages, heather voles lived as far south as Arkansas.
Contents
What Do Heather Voles Look Like?
The Phenacomys intermedius, also known as the western heather vole, is a small rodent. It has a short tail. It looks very much like the montane vole. This is why it was sometimes called the "deceiver mouse."
The fur of the heather vole is mostly gray to brown. Its belly fur is white to gray. These voles also have long whiskers that reach almost to their shoulders.
Where Do Heather Voles Live?
Western heather voles are mostly found in open coniferous forests. These forests often have small shrubs or plants around the edges. They also live in meadows in British Columbia, Canada.
Their full range is not completely known. They are found from west-central British Columbia south to California and New Mexico. They have even been found in parts of Alaska. It's hard to know their exact distribution. This is because they do not often enter traps, so few are captured.
They tend to use willow plants as their main home. They use heather plants less often. They also like wet meadows and the edges of forests. They can live in rocky areas, grasslands, and herbfields too. They prefer areas with more plant cover than rock cover. However, they have been found using medium to large rock cover as well.
What Do Heather Voles Eat?
Heather voles eat mostly kinnikinnick. This is a small shrub with evergreen leaves and red berries. They eat this plant in both summer and winter. These plant-eating animals also feed on soapberry leaves and fruits in the summer.
In winter, the Phenacomys intermedius eats the bark of bush willow, dwarf birch, sheep laurel, and blueberry. They also store food. They make piles of food at the entrances of their burrows. They do this at night during summer and winter. Then they eat the stored food during the day when it is safer.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
The breeding season for western heather voles is from May to August. This season might be shorter for voles living in high mountains. A female can have up to three litters (groups of babies).
Pregnancy lasts about 19 to 24 days. On average, a litter has 3 to 4 babies. These numbers are from voles kept in captivity. In the wild, a female can have up to 7 babies in one litter. The female is the only parent who takes care of the young. Females have an equal number of male and female offspring.
Behavior
Heather voles do eat seeds sometimes. But studies show they don't prefer seeds. They eat very few seeds overall, even when many are available. This proves that heather voles prefer leaves and berries over seeds.
These mammals use short burrow systems during the summer. They build their nests for babies under a rock or a tree stump. Their nests are made of leaves, twigs, grass, and other plants.
Researchers have seen heather voles act aggressively when caught. Male voles can be aggressive towards other males. Females with babies can also be aggressive towards animals that come near their nest.
History of Heather Voles
The heather vole has been divided into three distinct groups. These are the Oregon and California group, the Washington group, and the Northern and Interior group. Scientists think that periods of glaciation (Ice Ages) caused the species to spread out and then shrink back.
It is believed that geographical barriers, like mountains, kept these groups separate. This happened during cycles of climate change.
Fossils of P. intermedius from the Ice Age have been found in northern Arkansas and Tennessee. This is much farther south than where they live today. During the Holocene period (our current time), climate change happened. The only suitable homes for heather voles were mountainous "islands." This led to their disappearance in some areas, like the Great Basin. Scientists estimate that the heather vole separated from its closest relatives about 5.37 million years ago.
