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Voles range in color from gray to brown and in size from three to nine inches long. They have rounded bodies and blunt snouts, small ears and short tails without much hair. Their main food is grasses, but they also eat bark, leaves and insects. There are about 70 species, 40 of which (found in [[North America]], [[Eurasia]] and [[North Africa]]) are in the genus ''Microtus'', which usually make shallow burrows or runways under vegetation. Confusingly, these are called [[field mice]] in North America (in the rest of the world, field mice are a completely different animal). The five species in the genus ''Clethrionomys'' nest in shrubs, and those in the North American genus ''Phenacomys'' nest in trees and are called tree mice. The ''Lagarus'' species found in the western US is called the sagebrush vole, while that found in [[Russia]] and [[Mongolia]] is misleadingly called the steppe lemming. Voles also are known to strip the bark in a circle around fruit tree trunks, which often kills the tree. They tend not to like human houses, though they sometimes infest barns.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/268.shtm</ref><ref>http://www.terminix.com</ref><ref>http://www.the-aps.org/press/conference/steamboat/1.htm</ref>

Voles range in color from gray to brown and in size from three to nine inches long. They have rounded bodies and blunt snouts, small ears and short tails without much hair. Their main food is grasses, but they also eat bark, leaves and insects. There are about 70 species, 40 of which (found in [[North America]], [[Eurasia]] and [[North Africa]]) are in the genus ''Microtus'', which usually make shallow burrows or runways under vegetation. Confusingly, these are called [[field mice]] in North America (in the rest of the world, field mice are a completely different animal). The five species in the genus ''Clethrionomys'' nest in shrubs, and those in the North American genus ''Phenacomys'' nest in trees and are called tree mice. The ''Lagarus'' species found in the western US is called the sagebrush vole, while that found in [[Russia]] and [[Mongolia]] is misleadingly called the steppe lemming. Voles also are known to strip the bark in a circle around fruit tree trunks, which often kills the tree. They tend not to like human houses, though they sometimes infest barns.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/268.shtm</ref><ref>http://www.terminix.com</ref><ref>http://www.the-aps.org/press/conference/steamboat/1.htm</ref>

In Europe and Western Asia, the water vole ''Arvicola amphibus'', lives near ditches, streams and rivers. It is the largest British vole, and often mistaken for a rat – in fact Ratty in Kenneth Grahame’s book ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]'' was actually a water vole, making his nest by burrowing into the river bank. Water voles are not quite as well adapted for life on the water as animals like otters and beavers, so his habit of ‘messing about in boats’ was probably a good one. When alarmed, they make a characteristic ‘plop’ as they drop into the water.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/289feature3.shtml</ref>

In Europe and Western Asia, the water vole ''Arvicola amphibus'', lives near ditches, streams and rivers. It is the largest British vole, and often mistaken for a rat – in fact Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's book ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]'' was actually a water vole, making his nest by burrowing into the river bank. Water voles are not quite as well adapted for life on the water as animals like otters and beavers, so his habit of ‘messing about in boats’ was probably a good one. When alarmed, they make a characteristic ‘plop’ as they drop into the water.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/289feature3.shtml</ref>

Female water voles give birth to around six young after a gestation period of 20–23 days. The young leave their mother after about 22 days, when she has her next litter. They produce up to five litters from April to September. Despite all this reproductive activity, water vole numbers in the UK have dropped up to 90% in recent years despite their legally-protected status, because of predation from American [[mink]] that have escaped from fur farms, and changes in farming and flood control – a much bigger threat to Ratty than the [[Weasel]]s were. On the principle of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, the water vole’s new best friend is the [[otter]]. Because of pesticide use, the otter population began to decline 50 years ago. However, the recent revival in the otter population is helping the voles because otters have been keeping mink under control.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5331740.stm</ref>

Female water voles give birth to around six young after a gestation period of 20–23 days. The young leave their mother after about 22 days, when she has her next litter. They produce up to five litters from April to September. Despite all this reproductive activity, water vole numbers in the UK have dropped up to 90% in recent years despite their legally-protected status, because of predation from American [[mink]] that have escaped from fur farms, and changes in farming and flood control – a much bigger threat to Ratty than the [[Weasel]]s were. On the principle of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, the water vole's new best friend is the [[otter]]. Because of pesticide use, the otter population began to decline 50 years ago. However, the recent revival in the otter population is helping the voles because otters have been keeping mink under control.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5331740.stm</ref>

Water voles like to use a latrine for excretion, and their droppings - cylindrical with blunt ends – are often piled up together near their burrows, which often have grazed areas around the entrance.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/268.shtml</ref>

Water voles like to use a latrine for excretion, and their droppings - cylindrical with blunt ends – are often piled up together near their burrows, which often have grazed areas around the entrance.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/268.shtml</ref>

==Voles in popular culture==

==Voles in popular culture==

‘Vole’ is an increasingly-used nickname originally given to Microsoft by an IT newsletter called ‘The Inquirer’, possibly because a vole’s teeth grow continuously and they have to wear them down or die. The analogy is that Microsoft’s survival depends on stifling the competition.<ref>http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39079</ref>

‘Vole’ is an increasingly-used nickname originally given to Microsoft by an IT newsletter called ‘The Inquirer’, possibly because a vole's teeth grow continuously and they have to wear them down or die. The analogy is that Microsoft's survival depends on stifling the competition.<ref>http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39079</ref>

==References==

==References==