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Conservation Status:
The Florida saltmarsh vole (M. pennsylvanicus dukecampbelli) is Vulnerable; four subspecies are Near Threatened (M. pennsylvanicus admiraltiae, Admiralty Island meadow vole; M. pennsylvanicus kincaidi, Potholes meadow vole; M. pennsylvanicus provectus, Block Island meadow vole; and M. pennsylvanicus shattucki, Penobscot meadow vole).
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| Meadow Voles have a remarkable reproductive output: they are the world's most prolific mammals. Females can breed when they are a month old and produce litters of 3-10 pups every three weeks for the rest of their lives. A captive female produced 17 litters in one year. They are known for their boom-bust population cycles. Population density can vary from several Voles to several hundred per hectare over a 2-5 year period. Biologists have been studying - and trying to explain - these boom-bust cycles for more than half a century. At peak density, Meadow Voles are capable of real damage to farms and orchards. They are also a very important food source for many predators.
Also known as:
Meadow Mouse, Field Mouse
Sexual Dimorphism:
None
Length:
Average:
167 mm
Range:
140-195 mm
Weight:
Range:
33-65 g
References:
Ord, G., 1815. in A new geographical, historical, and commercial grammar; and present state of the several kingdoms of the world (W. Guthrie, compiler), 2nd Amer. ed., Johnson and Warner, Philadelphia, 2:1-603., p. 292.
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
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