Kolan vole facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Kolan vole |
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| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Arvicolinae |
| Genus: | Caryomys |
| Species: |
C. inez
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| Binomial name | |
| Caryomys inez (Thomas, 1908)
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The Kolan vole is a small rodent, also known as Inez's red-backed vole or Inez's vole. Its scientific name is Caryomys inez. This animal belongs to the family called Cricetidae, which includes many types of hamsters and voles.
The Kolan vole lives only in China. There are two main types, or subspecies, of Kolan vole. One is called Caryomys inez inez and lives in the northern parts of its home range. The other is Caryomys inez nux, found in the southern areas.
What Does It Look Like?
The Kolan vole is a small creature. Its head and body are about 90 mm (3.5 in) long. That's about the length of a standard pencil. Its tail is shorter, measuring between 32 to 44 mm (1.3 to 1.7 in).
This vole has small, round ears. They barely stick out from its fur. Its back fur is a dull, brownish color. The fur on its belly is a lighter, pale buff color. Its paws are brown. The top of its tail is dark brown, and the bottom is light brown. This makes its tail look like it has two colors.
Where Does It Live?
The Kolan vole is found only in China. This means it is endemic to China. It lives in several provinces, including Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Sichuan, Gansu, Henan, Ningxia, Hebei, and Hubei.
These voles live in places that are between 500 and 2,000 metres (1,600 and 6,600 ft) high. This is like living in hills or mountains. They like to make their homes in thick, tangled bushes. You can often find them in ravines and gullies. They dig burrows in the soft soil there to stay safe.
Life Cycle
Scientists don't know a lot about how Kolan voles have babies. But they think these voles breed during the warmer months. This breeding season likely happens between March and October.
Female Kolan voles have four nipples. This helps them feed their young. One female vole that was studied was found to be carrying two baby voles inside her.
Conservation Status
The Kolan vole lives in a large area. Scientists believe there are many of them in total. There are no big threats that seem to be harming this vole right now. Also, some of the places where it lives are protected areas.
Because of this, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has checked on the Kolan vole. They have decided its conservation status is "least concern". This means it is not in danger of disappearing anytime soon.
 | John T. Biggers |
 | Thomas Blackshear |
 | Mark Bradford |
 | Beverly Buchanan |
