European water vole

The European water vole (Arvicola amphibius) or northern water vole is a semi-aquatic rodent. It is often called the water rat, but it looks different from a true rat. Water voles have rounder noses, deep brown fur, chubby faces, and short fuzzy ears. Their tails, paws, and ears are covered with hair, which makes them look softer than rats.

These animals love to live near water, such as rivers, lakes, and canals, where they build burrows and search for food like plants, insects, and small creatures. They are good swimmers and spend much of their time in or near the water.

In the wild, water voles usually live about five months, but in safe places like captivity, they can live up to two and a half years. They are important for keeping water areas healthy by eating plants and helping to control other small animals.

Appearance

European water voles are medium-sized rodents with a uniform dark brown color, slightly lighter on their bellies. They have thick fur covering their entire body, including their tails, which sets them apart from rats.

These voles grow to be about 14 to 22 centimeters long, not counting their tails, which are roughly half the length of their bodies. While the heaviest adults can weigh up to about 386 grams, most weigh between 60 and 140 grams on average.

Taxonomy

The European water vole is scientifically named Arvicola amphibius. It used to be called A. terrestris, but scientists realized both names described the same animal. Now, A. amphibius is the correct name.

Some people thought the southwestern water vole (A. sapidus) was the same as the European water vole, but now they are considered different species.

Range

The European water vole lives in most of Europe, Russia, West Asia, and Kazakhstan. It enjoys wet areas like rivers, ponds, and marshes.

Habitat

Water voles live in burrows dug into the banks of rivers, ditches, ponds, and streams, especially near calm, slow-moving water. They also make ball-shaped nests in reed beds when there are no suitable banks.

They like areas with lots of tall plants near the water, which help hide them. Water voles avoid places where animals have trampled the plants. They can also live in upland areas with peatland vegetation and small ditches, and they stay under the snow during winter. In Europe and Russia, they can be found in woods, fields, and gardens.

Diet

Water voles mainly eat grass, sedges, rushes, herbs, and other plants near water. They may also eat fruits, seeds, bulbs, twigs, buds, and roots if they can. In some places, when there is a lot of food, water voles eat a lot and can damage fields of grass. In parts of England, they sometimes eat water snails, freshwater mussels, other mollusks, frogs, and tadpoles, possibly to get more protein.

Breeding

The European water vole mates from March until late autumn. After a pregnancy of about 21 days, a female can have up to 8 babies, each weighing about 10 grams. The baby voles open their eyes three days after they are born. By the time they are weaned, they are about half the size of an adult water vole.

Behaviour

Water voles are great swimmers and can dive underwater. They usually don't live in big groups. Each adult water vole has its own area, which it marks with special spots near its home or where it goes in and out of the water. These spots help people know how many water voles are around. They also leave a special smell on their bodies, but it's hard to notice when looking for them. If another water vole enters their area, they might get upset.

Predation

The European water vole faces many predators, but many of these predators prefer to hunt other small animals like Microtus voles and wood mice because they are more common. Wildcats, red foxes, hawks such as the common buzzards, and owls like the barn owl and Eurasian eagle-owl are known to hunt them. Small weasels and both European and American mink are also major threats, with the invasive American mink causing declines in water vole numbers in Britain.

Conservation

United Kingdom

In 2006, water voles came back to Lindow Common nature reserve in Cheshire after being away for many years.

On 26 February 2008, the U.K. Government said that water voles would get full legal protection starting on 6 April 2008.

In 2015, the People's Trust for Endangered Species started a new project to help protect water voles in the U.K. The National Water-Vole Monitoring Programme (NWVMP) is the first ongoing plan to watch over these animals in the U.K. It brings together information from many places to see how the water vole population is doing each year. In September 2019, the Box Moor Trust added 177 water voles to the River Bulbourne in Hemel Hempstead as part of a three-year plan.

Literary appearances

A water vole named "Ratty" is one of the main characters in the 1908 children's book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Many people think these animals are a type of rat because of this book, but they are not. Water voles also appear in the books of Redwall by Brian Jacques.

In the funny book and movie Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, a character named Urk calls the woman he likes his little water vole. He often talks to the water voles on the farm.

A poem called "Shelter" by C. S. Calverley tells the story of a shy young woman near a lake who turns out to be a water vole. The song "Live with Me" by The Rolling Stones mentions someone feeding water voles to geese.