Voles, Not Moles

It's that time of year when gardeners get mad. Well, not all of them, but the ones who insist on planting tulips often do. This spring bulb is tough to grow in New Hampshire, mostly because they taste really good to certain critters.

People often mistakenly blame moles for the termination of their treasured tulips. That's understandable, as these pointy-nosed creatures often make themselves quite noticeable with the tunnels they create. But the moles are innocent. They rarely eat any plants at all, as they much prefer insects.

If you do have mole tunnels in your yard, you probably have grubs. The moles, in fact, are helping you by digging them up. So please, give them a break!

Anyway, your tulips are most likely ending up in the belly of a vole - that's vole with a v. So how do you tell a mole from a vole? Well, voles look like their close relative, the hamster - kind of like chubby mice, but with smaller eyes and ears and a stubbier tail. Around here, we have two main types - meadow voles and redback voles.

Moles, on the other hand, tend to be heftier and darker in color. They offer two main clues to their identity: teeny tiny eyes and big, catcher-mitt-like front feet. Both of these attributes have developed as a consequence of their mostly underground, tunnel-digging lifestyle. New Hampshire hosts two species, the star-nosed and the hairy-tailed.

Moles are also less common. Voles, on the other hand, as members of the mouse family, are considered, interestingly enough, the third most successful mammal on earth, after humans and rats.