Critters of North Idaho: Ye ol’ vole

If you see a little rodent scurrying about in the thicket or under the snow, you may think it’s a mouse. And it may be a mouse, but at first glance it is very difficult to tell a mouse apart from another little rodent, the vole. So difficult, in fact, that voles are often mistakenly referred to as “field mice.” What makes these little scurriers so different from each other? For starters, they belong to different families.