About Ellobius talpinus (Pallas, 1770)
Ellobius talpinus, commonly known as the northern mole vole, is a small mammal adapted to an underground lifestyle. Adults reach roughly 130 mm (5.1 in) in total length, weigh up to 70 g, and females are slightly larger than males. It has a wedge-shaped body, a flat head, a short neck, and strongly developed musculature in its forelimbs. Its fur is short, dense, and brownish, with paler coloring on the underparts. Its feet are naked and pink, and it digs underground burrows using its large incisors. This species is distributed across Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, southern Russia, western Siberia, northern Afghanistan, Mongolia, and northern China. The northern mole vole is a colonial species that lives in groups of around 10 individuals, typically a single family group made up of one adult pair plus young from one or two litters. It constructs complex burrows, whose entrances are usually sealed with soil. Nesting and food storage chambers are generally located about 4 m (13 ft) below the ground surface. Its diet consists of plant roots, bulbs, tubers, and juicy rhizomes, and it stores small food supplies during summer and autumn. Individuals rarely come to the surface, only doing so to dispose of excavated soil or move to new territory; when moving above ground, they can travel distances up to 800 m (2,600 ft). Population sizes of this species are limited by several factors: infectious diseases, parasites, severe winters with deeply frozen ground, spring flooding of burrows by meltwater, and predation by birds and mammals.
