Re: [SG] Biology Lesson

So, does this mean that the presence of any of these should not be a
concern to a gardener, or a homeowner, for that matter?  They do no
significant harm, other than inconvenient mole holes in the lawn?

Denise Holder
Zone 6
-----Original Message-----
From: Roberta Diehl <diehlr@INDIANA.EDU>
To: shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
<shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999 2:08 PM
Subject: 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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