The Basin and Range Project
  • Home
    • Support the Basin and Range Project
  • Basin and Range Blog
  • About the Basin and Range
    • Basin and Range Geology
    • Photo Tour
    • Plants and Animals
    • Responsible Recreation


​Basin and Range Project
​Blog

​

Amargosa Voles

11/20/2015

0 Comments

 
From Takepart:

The planet’s entire population of Amargosa voles—as few as 50 or as many as 500; no one really knows—lives in isolated remnants of marshland fed by springs that bubble beneath the Valley. The one-of-a-kind ecosystem of just 247 acres is as rare as the vole itself, a patchwork of watery oases in the middle of the Mojave, where temperatures reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The marshes attract thousands of migratory birds, coyotes, bobcats, and even a rare desert-dwelling fish.
​
The critters spend nearly all their short lives—about three months on average—in tunnels they’ve burrowed deep through impenetrable thickets of bulrush, which provide their sole food and shelter. Leaving the marshy fortress for open terrain would be tantamount to a death sentence: Weighing less than four ounces, the furry brown critters are extremely snackable, liable to become vole chow for any of two dozen predators that prowl Tecopa, including a pack of eight coyotes that live on an island in a nearby dry lake bed.

Drought, development, and climate change also threaten the rodent’s fragile habitat. Still, Amargosa voles have persisted here for thousands of years, surviving as the once vast marshlands of the Pleistocene epoch disappeared millennia ago and the wooly mammoth went the way of the saber-toothed tiger.
But now the vole’s days could be numbered. And that number is 1,825. Between 2013 and 2014, the rodent’s population violently crashed as its main marsh in Tecopa suddenly dried up. Biologist Robert Klinger of the United States Geological Survey and other scientists subsequently determined that unless drastic action was taken, there was an 82 percent chance the vole would go extinct within five years.

Learn more here: http://www.takepart.com/feature/2015/04/08/last-chance-save-amargosa-vole-most-critically-endangered-mammal?cmpid=organic-share-facebook
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Support Us
    Follow us on these social media sites:

    The Basin and Range Project
    We love the Basin and Range region and work to promote appreciation and respect for the area.  We encourage all users to learn about, play in and protect this amazing resource.
    We currently focus primarily on issues in the Nevada region of the Basin and Range, but are looking to expand soon.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Animal Profile
    Animals
    Art
    Basin And Range Photo Tour
    Basin And Range Word Focus
    Book Club
    Cultural
    Education
    Energy
    Events
    Fire
    Grants
    Interesting
    Invasives
    Issues
    Land
    Nature
    Photography
    Place Profile
    Plant Profile
    Plants
    Public Lands
    Quotes
    Recipes
    Recreation
    Restoration
    Stewardship
    Volunteer
    Water
    Wildlife

    We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
  • Home
    • Support the Basin and Range Project
  • Basin and Range Blog
  • About the Basin and Range
    • Basin and Range Geology
    • Photo Tour
    • Plants and Animals
    • Responsible Recreation