The meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), sometimes called the field mouse or meadow mouse, is a North American vole found across Canada, Alaska and the northern United States. Its range extends further south along the Atlantic coast. One subspecies, the Florida salt marsh vole (M. p. dukecampbelli), is found in Florida, and is classified as endangered. It is also found in Chihuahua, Mexico.
The meadow vole is active year-round, usually at night. It also digs underground burrows, where it stores food for the winter and females give birth to their young. Although these animals tend to live close together, they are aggressive towards one another. This is particularly evident in males during the breeding season. They can cause damage to fruit trees, garden plants and commercial grain crops.
Read more about Meadow Vole: Distribution, Plant Communities, Habits, Reproduction, Habitat, Cover Requirements, Diets, Predators, Management, Ecological Importance
Famous quotes containing the word meadow:
“The poet alone knows astronomy, chemistry, vegetation, and animation, for he does not stop at these facts, but employs them as signs. He knows why the plain, or meadow of space, was strewn with these flowers we call suns, and moons, and stars; why the great deep is adorned with animals, with men, and gods; for, in every word he speaks he rides on them as the horses of thought.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)