The small, mouse-like creature known as the vole is common in yards and fields across the Northern Hemisphere. Its compact appearance and secretive, burrowing habits often lead people to wonder about its place in the animal kingdom. Voles are frequently confused with other tiny mammals, but their classification reveals a specific biological identity.
Vole Classification and Defining Features
A vole is classified as a rodent, belonging to the Order Rodentia. Within this order, voles are categorized into the Family Cricetidae (which includes hamsters and New World rats and mice) and the Subfamily Arvicolinae. The primary feature placing the vole in the rodent order is its dental structure.
Like all rodents, voles possess a single pair of upper and lower incisor teeth that grow continuously, requiring constant gnawing. Physically, the vole has a stout, compact body and a blunt snout. Its tail is short, rarely exceeding 50 percent of its head and body length, and it has small, partially concealed ears.
Distinguishing Voles from Similar Small Mammals
The vole is often misidentified as a house mouse or a shrew, but distinct traits allow for clear identification. The most obvious difference between a vole and a mouse is the tail. A mouse has a long, thin, often nearly naked tail that is usually as long as its body. In contrast, the vole’s tail is noticeably shorter and covered with hair.
Mice also have a more slender body, larger ears, and more prominent eyes than the stocky, small-eared vole. Differentiating a vole from a shrew is simpler, as shrews are not rodents but belong to the Order Eulipotyphla (insectivores). Shrews possess an elongated, pointed snout, unlike the vole’s rounded, blunt face. Shrews also have non-gnawing teeth and a diet centered on insects and worms, unlike the vole’s primarily plant-based diet.
Habitat and Diet
Voles are semifossorial, spending significant time underground in extensive burrow systems and surface runways beneath dense vegetation. They create complex networks of tunnels, often visible as small trenches in the grass. These mammals thrive in areas with heavy ground cover, such as grassy fields, meadows, orchards, and woodland edges.
Their diet is overwhelmingly herbivorous, consisting mainly of grasses, seeds, roots, and tubers. Voles also consume tree bark, particularly during late fall and winter when other food sources are scarce. While vegetation is preferred, voles occasionally supplement their diet with insects and snails.