Why did the vole climb the tree?
“Voles that are part of a nesting group sometimes aggressively
exclude other voles from their area and might even kill a vole
that did not make itself scarce. If making itself scarce means
seeking temporary refuge above the snow in a tree then that, I
suspect, is what the vole will do.”
The more he studies voles, the more van Tets admires them. At
a time when bears hibernate and most birds escape Alaska and head
for warmer places, voles thrive in a dark world beneath the snow,
sometimes even breeding during the winter.
“Voles and lemmings are, in my completely unbiased opinion,
the truly tough animals of northern ecosystems,” he said. “They
don't migrate, hibernate or even use torpor to save energy. They
just gut out the winter as best they can.”
A northern red-backed vole from the Eagle River area.
Photo by Kalb Stevenson.
|
