Red mouse. Lesser or red panda (lat. Ailurus fulgens). Bank vole in the food chain
Species: Clethrionomys (= Myodes) glareolus = Red (forest) vole, European bank vole
Description. Relatively small appearance. Body length up to 120 mm, tail - up to 60 mm., Feet -15-20 mm, ear - 11-14 mm. Weight up to 35 gr. Eye 3 mm. The color of the fur of the back (mantle) is rusty-brown in various shades. The belly is grayish-whitish (sometimes the white tone is quite pure. The tail is usually sharply bicolored. The color of the legs is silvery-whitish, sometimes with a faint brownish tint. The winter fur on the back of bank voles is clearly lighter and redder than in summer. The coloration brightens and turns yellow to the south and reddens to the east The dimensions increase towards the northeast, decreasing with height (in the mountains of Western Europe, the ratio is apparently reversed. On the plains of Western Siberia, it most reliably differs from other species of bank voles living together in the length of the tail (up to 45 mm). The hind limb has 6 foot calluses.
The skull is relatively small, with moderate cheekbones. The condylobasal length of the skull in fully mature and old specimens is 21.7–26 mm; The roots of molars are formed early, which allows their size growth to be used to determine age. In most cases, M3 has 4 protruding corners on the inside. 
There is no distinct sexual dimorphism either in the size of the body or in the structure of the skull. In ethological observations in nature, adult females show greater elegance in appearance and in movement. Soskov: r. 2-2; i. 2-2 (=8).
Spreading. The bank vole is common in the forest zone of the mountains (up to 1900 m, and in the Alps even up to 2400 m) and plains from Scotland to Turkey in the west and the lower reaches of the river. Yenisei and Sayan in the east. In the north of Europe to the border of the distribution of forests in the central part of Lapland and the lower reaches of the river. Pechora, in the Trans-Urals up to 65o N In Siberia, the northern limit of distribution has not been clarified. In the south of Western Siberia, the distribution coincides with the northern border of the forest-steppe. It penetrates into the tundra and steppe through floodplain forests of rivers.
Biotopes. The bank vole inhabits all types of forests, and penetrates into residential buildings located in the middle of the forest. The optimum range is mixed and broad-leaved forests of Europe. During periods of rise and high abundance, this vole is found almost everywhere in various biotopes, inhabiting them more or less evenly. Avoids open stations. 
Ecology. Almost throughout the range - a common and numerous species. In the European part of the range, it dominates among forest rodents. The density of settlements in optimal habitat conditions during the breeding season reaches 200 individuals/ha. To assess the resource and social capacity of habitats, the most indicative is the number of breeding females. In Central Europe this value reaches 20-25 females/ha. In the northern and eastern parts of the range, 5-7 females/ha participate in reproduction. Population dynamics is cyclical. The bank vole is characterized by a relatively short duration of peaks (1-2 years), a rapid recovery of numbers after depressions and a gradual decrease in numbers after upsurges. A more or less pronounced cyclicity of fluctuations with a period of 2-5 years is characteristic.
The bank vole is characterized by a mixed type of nutrition. The range of feed is wide and varied. It feeds on both the ground parts of plants and their root parts. Readily eaten seeds of various herbs and trees (spruce, oak, linden, ash, maple), wild berries. Voles, even during daily feeding, alternate types of food: with a sufficient abundance of them, after 5 minutes of feeding on an acorn, the voles will definitely seize it with some kind of green food and vice versa. The vole hides the half-eaten acorn and quite confidently finds it when visiting this place again. With a seasonal abundance of one or another type of food, storage is characteristic. In winter, the daily diet often includes random types of food (ballast): the bark of trees and shrubs, forest litter. I willingly drink dew and rainwater, eat snow.
The bank vole builds a simple burrow structure. Natural voids under the forest floor, elements of other types of burrows are used. Nest chambers are preferably arranged under old stumps, in a cluster of stones overgrown with moss. The variety of nesting places is determined by the possibility of arranging a chamber with a diameter of 10-15 cm and two or three short approaches to it. A spherical nest is built from dry grass and leaves of the forest litter (litter). The entrance hole with a diameter of 3 cm of a vole is often closed with two or three specially placed dry leaves. An adult female changes 2-3 brood burrows during the breeding season (Mironov, 1979). Before the next birth, the nest lining is updated. The subsnow system of tunnels is much more diverse and complex. The direction of undersnow communications is formed according to the stereotype of movements in the snowless period, and the location layer in the snow thickness depends on the intensity of movements of voles during the formation of this snow layer. Long passages in the snow do not gnaw through. In dry snow, voles simply pierce it, while making quick head movements from side to side. Voles dig wet snow with their front paws, making alternating digging movements in front of them. Under the snow, various kinds of niches are readily used under the branches of trees, along the lying tree trunks. The network of snow passages is formed due to the connection of individual communications.
Behavior. Activity in the bank vole is polyphasic (European bank vole, 1981). During the day there are 5-8 periods of activity. The activity phase lasts about 60 minutes, after which the vole goes to rest in the nesting hole and sleeps for 60-90 minutes. In optimal habitats, the daily rhythm of activity is uniform: the vole is equally active in the daytime and in the dark. In the zone of taiga forests, the rhythm of daily activity shifts towards the dark part of the day. In the budget of the activity phase, up to 80% of the activity is occupied by feeding behavior. The size of the used territory in adult females is 400-1000 m2, in males 1000-8000 m2. The shape of the plots is amoeboid. Plot sizes increase from south to north and east. The main determining factor in their change is the ecological capacity of the habitat (food supply, density of the adult population). The structure of the habitat area is represented by a network of trails connecting the nesting hole with 3-5 feeding areas. When moving, voles run between trees and stumps. During one period of activity, the vole runs 50-370 m. The paths are stereotyped. The sites of adult females are strictly isolated. Females will actively expel any visitor. In bank voles, a ritual manifestation of feelings is described (after fights, when someone else's traces are found): the animal spins in one place, throwing the forest floor out from under it and alternately scratching the sides of the body with its hind legs. The male visits several neighboring females, i.e. areas overlap. Without conflicts, the male is allowed to enter the territory of the female only during the spring rut or prenatal estrus (2-3 days). During the breeding season, bank voles lead a solitary lifestyle. In winter, they can join groups. In nature, voles live 1-1.5 years. The maximum life expectancy is 750 days (the Les na Vorskla nature reserve) and 1120 days (in the laboratory).
Reproduction. The breeding season begins in March-April and ends in August-September. The beginning of the spring rut is associated with the complete melting of snow. In some years, under-snow breeding is noted, which depends on a complex of favorable factors that have developed in a particular population. The female brings more than three broods. In a broad-leaved oak forest ("Forest on Vorskla") in 1974, by the middle of July, the female had successfully reared 6 broods.
Pregnancy lasts 20 days. The female alone raises the brood. The cubs are born blind and naked. The size of the broods increases with the age of the females and the number of births. Usually there are 5-6 cubs in a brood, the maximum known number is 13. They begin to see clearly for 10-12 days. On their own, the cubs begin to eat green food even in the nest - the female brings sluggish leaves there. On the 14-15th day, they begin to emerge from the hole. In most breeding females, the lactation period coincides with the next pregnancy. A few days before giving birth, the female leaves the brood to another prepared hole (20-50 m from the previous one). After 5 days, the brood is divided into two or three groups and moves to neighboring holes. At the age of one month, the composition of the groups mixes with the cubs of other females or completely breaks up. Teenagers begin to lead independent lives. Young females mature early - at the age of a month there may be first pregnancies. Young males mature at the age of 3 months.
The bank vole changes its fur several times during its life. The first juvenile molt begins at the age of 5 weeks. Shortly after it, a post-juvenile molt takes place, during which the sparse and short grayish-brown fur is replaced by summer fur in those born in spring and early summer, or winter fur in those born in late summer and autumn. In the future, a regular change of fur occurs in spring and autumn. It is closely related to environmental and internal factors: sexual activity, pregnancy, lactation.
Vole family (Microtidae).
Widespread and numerous species of voles in Belarus. In the south of the republic, it lives in almost all forest biotopes. Forest bank voles of Belarus belong to the nominal form - C. g. glareolus. In Grodno, Minsk and Mogilev regions. the nominal form of this species lives. However, among voles in the Vitebsk region. there are instances of darker individuals - C. g. suecicus, and in the south of the Gomel region. there are specimens with a lighter coat color - C. g. hystericus.
Length: body 8.1-12.3 cm, tail 3.6-7.2 cm, feet 1.5-1.8 cm, ear 1.0-1.5 cm. Body weight 14-28 g (up to 36 g). The tail is covered with short and sparse hair, distinctly, rarely slightly bicolored; its length, as a rule, is more than 45% of the length of the body.
There is no sexual dimorphism. The color of the fur on the back is rusty-brown, on the sides it is dark gray, the bottom is light gray with an admixture of yellowness. The tail is dark above, light below, slightly pubescent. In winter, the back is brighter, rusty-buffy, the sides are reddish-buffy, the belly is whitish. In the northern, or dark, bank vole C. g. suecicus darker fur coloration. The winter fur on its back is rusty brownish, noticeably darker than that of the typical form. In the southern form C. g. istericus is lighter in color than the typical form.
It is easily distinguished from gray voles by the color of the upper body (there are rusty and reddish-red tones).
A typical background representative of the faunal complex of broad-leaved and coniferous-broad-leaved forests of Belarus. Everywhere it prefers clarified areas of the forest, clearings with well-developed undergrowth and herbage. It usually avoids wetlands, dry forests and cultivated lands, appearing there only during a period of high abundance. In favorable years, the maximum vole density is observed in mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. Animals adhere to areas with natural shelters - hollow trunks of fallen trees, root plexuses, piles of deadwood or stones. The animal climbs trees well.
The burrows and passages dug by the vole do not lie deeper than 15 cm. However, it digs its own burrows relatively rarely; according to other data (Savitsky et al., 2005), it does not dig at all. For nests, he uses natural shelters - heaps of brushwood, rotten stumps, the root system of various trees. Nests are spherical, 10-15 cm in diameter, built from moss shoots, herbaceous plants and tree leaves. For the wintering period, it often moves to human habitation, settling in stacks of straw, cellars, gardens, utility and residential buildings.
The bank vole is active at any time of the day, but mainly at twilight and at night. Typically, the animal moves from cover to cover under fallen trees, dry grass or fallen leaves, avoiding being in open spaces for a long time. Summer heat and prolonged rains shorten the duration of the active period. The size of an individual plot of a vole depends on the season of the year, sex and age characteristics of the animal, population density, living conditions and can reach 2 ha.
Males are more sedentary than females. Regular seasonal migrations are not characteristic of this species, but in autumn, in the absence of food, the animals can move to more nutritious places. Migrations of the bank vole from forest biotopes to agricultural lands and shores of water bodies do not exceed 50–100 m.
The range of foods for the bank vole is extremely wide and varied. In summer, her food is made up of green shoots of strawberries, anemones, lungwort, bedstraw, St. John's wort, lily of the valley, chickweed, in autumn - seeds of herbs, trees and shrubs, berries and all edible mushrooms, in winter and early spring the food set is poorer. These are shoots and bark of tree species, rhizomes of herbaceous plants, mosses, lichens. At all times of the year, animal food (worms, insects and their larvae) and sometimes carrion can be found in the vole's stomach. In just a day, they consume 5-7 g of food. In general, green fodder in all seasons of the year is the main one, accounting for 75.6% of the diet and increasing to 95.1% in spring. Seeds make up 26.7% of the diet. Berries and mushrooms are found in summer and autumn.
The instinct to store food is not sufficiently expressed and is manifested only in individuals that are poorly provided with food. However, the size of the reserves is small (usually less than 100 g) and most often by the spring they remain unused. Reserves are placed in root voids, hollows of fallen trees, crevices of rotten stumps and other random places.
The bank vole starts breeding at the age of about 1-1.5 months, according to other data (Savitsky et al., 2005), at the age of 1.5-2 months.
It reproduces quite intensively. In spring, sexual activity in males begins earlier than in females, and ends later. In connection with polygamy, the emptying of adult females is very rare. Pregnancy lasts 18-20 (sometimes more) days. The first pregnant females appear at the end of April, the breeding process ends at the beginning of October. Females of the first generations start breeding in the same year and are able to bring up to 2 litters. Females of the third generation start breeding only in the next spring. The number of litters is usually 3, sometimes 4, with 3-9 cubs in each. Newborns are naked, blind, weighing 1.3-1.8 g. The hairline appears on the 9-10th, the eyes open on the 10-12th day. From this time on, young animals begin to eat natural food.
An important object of food for predatory animals, birds and reptiles (common viper).
Populations are renewed annually by 90%, since a small number of voles live in natural conditions for more than a year.
Have you ever seen a field mouse? This small rodent, despite its size, can cause great harm. Which? Let's find out...
This small mammal from the order of rodents belongs to the genus of forest and field mice. The mouse family is one of the most numerous on our planet, it includes a huge number of species, but the field mouse is one of the most popular.
And it is also known because it has a very wide habitat. These rodents live in Europe, Siberia, China, Primorye, Mongolia, Korea and other places.
The appearance of a field mouse
How can you find out that you have a field mouse in front of you? Take a look at its back: if a dark narrow stripe runs along it, then this is exactly the same animal.
The body of the animal grows to approximately 12 centimeters in length. The tail of this species of mice is not very long.
Coat color is dark: ocher-gray, brownish. But the belly of a field mouse is light.
On the back of the mouse, a dark stripe is its hallmark. Field mouse lifestyle and diet
It should be noted right away that these mammals lead, for the most part, a nocturnal and twilight lifestyle. In the daytime, they have a more important task - to hide from predators, so as not to become someone's dinner. And to feast on the field mouse of hunters - more than enough!
And where is this little girl to hide from the watchful eyes of carnivorous hunters? Yes, anywhere: in a pile of foliage, a stack of hay, or you can climb into the roots of a bush and a tree. In the end, for this case, field mice even build underground passages resembling a labyrinth.
Field mice are very prolific animals. And these little animals are able to very carefully trample down their “way back” on the ground, which is difficult to see with the naked eye. They do this in order to return to their shelter as soon as possible in case of danger.
The diet of the field mouse includes both plant products and some animals. Rodents eat greens from plants, a variety of berries and fruits, seeds, including cereals, as well as insects.
To feed themselves in the winter, field mice try to "settle" closer to human habitation. Sometimes they spend the winter in the barn, in the attic, or they can look into the kitchen.
The main food for a field mouse is vegetable. Despite the periodic lack of food, field mice do not lose fertility. Their ability to breed can be the envy of any animal.
About breeding field mice
The offspring of these rodents appears about 5 times a year. And each time one female is able to give birth to about 6 - 7 mice. That's the fertility!
Mouse cubs are born blind, but thanks to the enhanced nutrition of mother's milk, they quickly gain weight and grow up. Two weeks after birth, the mice become sighted, and after a couple of weeks - independent.
The benefits and harms of a field mouse
Many will say - well, what is the use of them? They just gnaw and spoil everything! But in an ecosystem, this is not the case. These animals are an important element of the food chain. Without the existence of this little tailed naughty, many birds and animals would be left without basic food, for example.
A small animal from the genus of forest voles - body length 8–12 cm, tail 4–7 cm, body weight 15–40 g. It can be seen at dusk, and sometimes during the day.
Usually this reddish, not very short-tailed animal snoops under the canopy of forest vegetation in fallen leaves and forest rags. And at the beginning of winter, as soon as the snow falls, numerous trails of bank voles will trace the virgin whiteness of fresh powder.
At the top left - the lower surface of the front and hind legs, respectively, of the bank vole, below - the litter of the animal; on the right - traces of a vole moving in the snow by jumping
Bank voles are lighter and more agile than slow voles. Perhaps their typical gait is light jumps 10–15 cm long.
The prints of all 4 paws are arranged in the form of trapeziums, like in mice and, while a short tail strip is often imprinted on the snow. These marks are easily recognizable. They differ from traces in shorter jumps and a short tail print, and from traces of gray voles in that the latter usually do not jump with such jumps.
But it happens that the bank voles also move with a quick mincing step, exactly the same as other voles run and in which the prints are located alternately on one or the other side of the track - a snake.
The length of the steps is 6–8 cm. Such traces can be very difficult to determine. You have to look for additional signs that could suggest the correct answer, such as litter. In the bank vole, each of its grains is strongly pointed on one side, in addition, they are very small - 5 × 2 mm. The size of the front foot of this animal is 1.1 x 1, the back foot is 1.7 x 1.5 cm.
In winter, bank voles often fill entire trails from one mink to another, running back and forth many times. They usually run for short distances, and jump when they need to cover a long distance. These mobile animals can move away from the hole for several hundred meters.
Voles feed on leaves, buds and tree bark, as well as berries and mushrooms. Berries are used in different ways. Often on stumps and forest logs in autumn you can find a whole bunch of rowan fruits, from which only seeds are selected, and all the pulp is left as unnecessary.
But in rose hips, they often ate the pulp, and pulled out and gnawed the seeds. I remember how, having waited for the mushroom season, I went to the familiar spruce forest, where in previous years I collected young strong porcini mushrooms. But this time he returned home with an empty basket. All the boletus boletus that appeared on the surface were ground down by the sharp teeth of bank voles.
The fact that this was their work was clearly indicated by the droppings left near the whitening stumps. Apparently, the year for the animals was not very successful, if they attacked the mushrooms so much. These voles gnaw on many types of mushrooms, including very bitter bile mushrooms.
In winter, voles pick up fallen or dropped by crossbills spruce cones and. cutting the scales to about half with sharp teeth, they choose tasty seeds.
The coloration of the top of the bank vole is rusty-brownish, of various shades. The tail is relatively long (40-60 mm), sharply bicolored, dark above and whitish below, covered with short hairs, between which a scaly surface of the skin can be seen. Skull length 21.7-26.0 mm. The length of the upper molars is usually less than 6 mm. The base of the alveolus of the upper incisor (visible when opening the bone) is at least half the length of the crown of this tooth from the anterior edge of the 1st molar. 3rd upper molar on the inside with 2, or more often, 3 reentrant angles.
Forest regions of the European part of the USSR and some regions of Western Siberia; to the north to the middle part of the Kola Peninsula, the Solovetsky Islands, Arkhangelsk and the lower reaches of the Pechora, to the south to the insular forests of Ukraine, the Voronezh, Saratov, Kuibyshev regions, the environs of Uralsk; isolated locality is in the southwestern Transcaucasia. The eastern boundary of distribution is not sufficiently clarified: individual occurrences are known near Tyumen, in the vicinity of Tobolsk, in the Vasyugan region of the Tomsk region, in the Legostaevsky region of the Novosibirsk region; on the Salair Ridge, Altai and Sayans. Outside the USSR, it is distributed north to Scotland and Scandinavia, south to the Pyrenees, southern Italy, Yugoslavia and Turkey.
In the Pleistocene on the territory of the USSR, bank voles penetrated far to the south into the open landscape, apparently adhering to forested river valleys, and their remains, usually attributed to C. glareolus, together with the remains of the steppe fauna, were found outside their modern range on the lower Don and in the Crimea; in addition, they are known from the Kanev region on the Dnieper. The earliest finds are known from England in the Upper Pliocene; in the early Quaternary time, forms close to C. glareolus.
The bank vole lives in various types of forests, from coniferous in the north to broadleaf in the south; through forest islands it penetrates far into the steppe zone. In autumn and winter, it often settles in haystacks, omets and buildings. Burrows with several exits and 1-2 chambers; sometimes makes a nest on the surface of the soil. Climbs bushes and trees. It feeds on tree seeds, herbaceous plants, bark, buds, lichens and, in part, also animal food (insects, worms). Reproduction 3-4 times a year, in each litter 2-8 cubs. Harmful in forests, nurseries, gardens and field-protective afforestations. In some places it causes some damage in winter in barns, vegetable warehouses and in residential buildings.
Vole subspecies: 1) Clethrionomys glareolus glareolus Schreber (1780) - the coloration is relatively bright with a significant admixture of reddish-rufous tones on the back; from Belarus and the Smolensk region to the Tatar ASSR.
2) C. g. suecicus Miller (1909) - the coloration is darker than that of the previous form, the dimensions are somewhat larger than those of other subspecies; from the Baltic along the northern regions of the USSR (Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Leningrad, Vologda) to the Ural Range and the flat part of Western Siberia, inclusive.
3) C. g. islericus Miller (1909) - rusty-yellow upperparts, lighter than previous forms; Moldova, Ukraine, Kursk, Voronezh, Saratov, Kuibyshev regions, the Southern Urals, etc.
4) C. g. devius Stroganov (1948) - the color of the summer fur on the back is smoky gray with a fawn-rusty tint; found in the lower reaches of the river. Pechory.
5) C. g. saianicus Thomas (1911) - upperparts are relatively dark, similar to C. g. suecicus Mill.; slightly smaller than the last subspecies; Sayans, Altai, Salair Ridge.
6) C. g. ponticus Thomas (1906) - the color of the bank vole is intense, gray-brown, with a brownish-rusty tinge; found in the Guria-Adzhar Range south of the city of Kutaisi of the Georgian SSR; was previously known from several points in Turkey (Trapezund, etc.).