Natural History of the Prairie Vole (Mammalian Genus Microtus): [KU. Vol. 1 No. 7]Jameson, E. W. (Everett Williams)
Science
Natural History of the Prairie Vole (Mammalian Genus Microtus): [KU. Vol. 1 No. 7]
Jameson, E. W. (Everett Williams)
Microtus
The museum special traps were used both with and without bait. The bait
consisted of a piece of walnut meat on the treadle. By placing the trap
crosswise in the runway, voles were captured whether or not the treadle
was baited. Immediately upon removal from the trap, each vole was placed
in a white flannel sack, one sack sufficing for several voles when
necessary. In this way the loss of ectoparasites was kept to a minimum.
The fleas were counted, and the numbers of lice and mites were
estimated; some specimens of ectoparasites were saved for
identification.
The voles taken in live traps were marked and released. The marking was
done by cutting off one or more toes in such a manner that the vole
could later be identified. From left to right, the toes were assigned
numbers from one to five on the left hind foot, and by tens from ten to
fifty on the right hind foot. Number 33, therefore, was assigned to the
one vole of which the middle toe of each hind foot had been cut off.
Each time an animal was captured alive, it was weighed, specimens of
fleas, lice and mites were preserved, and the external appearance of the
reproductive organs was noted. The extent of the molt line, if the vole
was molting, was recorded. Corresponding data were kept for each dead
vole caught in a snap trap.
Assistance is acknowledged from Professors E. Raymond Hall, A. Byron
Leonard, Worthie H. Horr, and Donald F. Hoffmeister; and I have had also
much helpful advice from Professors W. J. Hamilton, Jr., and P. C.
Stone.
MOLT
The skins of 44 molting prairie voles were pinned out flat. The flesh
sides clearly show the areas of molt. Various stages in the molt process
were observed also in animals caught in live traps. The molt begins when
the animal is three or four weeks old; at this time the juvenal pelage
is replaced by the subadult pelage. The second molt occurs when the
prairie vole is between eight and twelve weeks old, and is the means by
which the adult pelage replaces the subadult pelage. These same two
molts were found by Hatfield (1935) to occur in captive _Microtus
californicus_. Molting voles of the species ochrogaster were trapped in
each month of the year.
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