Water Vole Classification and Evolution
The Water Vole is a small species of semi-aquatic rodent that is found along the riverbanks throughout the UK and Europe.
Water Vole Behaviour
No observations regarding Water Vole behavior have been submitted to the database yet.
Interesting Facts about Water Voles ...
The Water Vole was first reported by Dekay, 1842. In general members of this order are found all over the world, except for Antarctica. The largest living rodent weighs around 50 kilograms or 110 pounds, and this is called the capybara.
Water voles are widespread around Europe, living in the banks of slow moving rivers, streams and other waterways.
Water voles have declined in some areas in recent years, as mink populations have increased through introduction from North America.
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Water Voles can swim and dive, and are always found near water, often near fast-running glacial or spring-fed streams. Captive young Voles swam voluntarily when they were only 17 days old, before they were even weaned.
Water Vole Habits
Territory. A male water vole occupies an area of waterbank of about 130m and will usually live in this narrow strip of land at the water's edge for a long time, sometimes all its life.
Water Vole Arvicola terrestris
Family: Muridae (rats, mice and relatives)
Harvest Mouse Micromys minutus
Wood Mouse Apodemus sylvaticus ...
Water vole (Arvicola terrestris)
Irish lady's tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana)
Madagascar frog (Gephyromantis silvanus)
Northern harrier (Circus cyaneus)
Tufted vetch (Viccia cracca)
Giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas) ...
On their website they say "Snakes are as central to our natural history and as prominent in folklore as the water vole, badger or barn owl. Yet, unlike these species, snakes are maligned by many people.
A mink may excavate its own burrow, take one from a water vole or establish a den in a sheltered location such as a crevice or among tree roots. It often stores food.
Social Organization:
Mink are solitary and territorial.
Species Microtus richardsoni (water vole)
Species Microtus sachalinensis (Sakhalin Island vole)
Species Microtus savii (Savi's pine vole) ...
It eats mainly fish, but on occasion water voles and ducklings have also been known to fall prey to pike. It is moreover a cannibal and this cannibalism serves in maintaining stability in the pike population.
American mink have also been implicated in the decline of the Water vole in the United Kingdom and linked to the decline of water fowl across their range in Europe.
The water vole, Arvicola, of Europe and W Asia, is a large, semiaquatic vole, somewhat resembling the closely related muskrat. Voles are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Rodentia, family Crecetidae.
 See also: Beaver, Vole, Red Squirrel, House Mouse, Lemming
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