Re: [SG] Biology Lesson

To set the record straight and (it is hoped) avoid any more confusion:
(NOTE--in Biology, Order comes first, then family, then genus, then
species, then variety--just like with plants.)

Moles along with shrews are in the order Insectivora (because they eat
insects) and taxonomically they come between opossoms and bats.
Relationship-wise, they are FAR removed from voles and mice. If you
look them up in a mammal book you will see that moles are larger and have
big heads, with eyes and ears concealed in the fur, and enormous paddle
shaped front legs with claws that they use for digging. They are rarely
seen and their presence is usually detected by molehills. Other than
making molehills, which lawn fanatics dislike, I believe they do more good
than harm, by eating lots of Japanese beetle grubs. This is just as well,
as it's practically impossible to get rid of them.

Voles and mice (they are very closely related) are in the order Rodentia,
along with chipmunks and squirrels. Voles and mice are in the same family,
which is Cricetidae. Their main food is vegetable matter of various kinds,
including seeds and roots. If you look at a vole, or a picture of a vole,
it is the size of a mouse but has smaller ears and is overall a bit cuter.
Frances recently referred to them as "strange"--I wonder if she is
describing some other animal, as voles are actually adorable, looking like
something drawn by Beatrix Potter. Fur color tends to be a rather pretty
dark gray or grayish brown. I have read somewhere that a vole is the same
thing as a field mouse--two different names for the same creature--but
that may be an oversimplification. Voles are seen fairly often, in my
neighborhood, at all times of the day. They come indoors especially in
fall when the weather gets cold and occasionally the rest of the year,
where they serve as new live (but temporary) toys for my indoor cats, who
find them in the basement. Aside from hawks and owls (rare in our
neighborhood), cats (dogs too) are their main predator.

Everyone knows what a chipmunk looks like, surely? If not, it resembles a
small squirrel, with stripes on its back. They dig little tunnels and do
sometimes climb trees as well. It is interesting how ignorant many of us
are about the creatures who share our world, no offense. A man who was
painting our house once told us that, regrettably, he had bad news for
us--we had rats. "There's one now," he said, pointing as it ran by. It was
a chipmunk! I met a lady last week who didn't know what a mammal was.  And
one of my pet peeves is how people automatically kill bats or snakes,
which are some of the most valuable predators we have--but that's another
story.

End of lecture.

Bobbi Diehl
Bloomington, IN
zone 5/6

On Thu, 25 Mar 1999, Denise Holder wrote:

> Pardon my ignorance, but what are voles?  I have moles in my yard, and
> chipmunks too.  At first I thought the "v" was a typo.  Can anyone
> enlighten?  And, if moles are different, does anyone know how to get
> rid of moles, and what they harm, if anything?
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