The Gobi Girls
In March 1998, four Mongolian reed vole girls moved into the glass penthouse above the Rat Palace. They didn't have names because they all looked the same, according to our human, and we had to agree with her because they did all look pretty similar, even for rodents! They were collectively known as the Gobi Girls because their ancestors came from the Gobi Desert and their Mum and Dad were called Mr and Mrs Gobi.
Here's what they looked like:
As you can see, they were about four inches long, with a stubby tail on the end of about an inch and a half. They were brown on top and grey underneath and had little black eyes and small, round ears that you can hardly see under all that fur. We're reliably informed that the Girls had eight nipples, but none of us ever dared to look. They made little squeaky noises like chewy dog toys when they fought, which they sometimes did, but other than that they were pretty quiet.
Their Latin name is Microtus fortis and they are one of 67 genera of field voles. Field voles are found all over the world but these reed voles came from south-eastern Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria and eastern China - brrrr! You'd think they'd hibernate in all that cold but they don't. They just keep on eating all winter long. This was great for us because we could go and visit them all year round! They were supposed to be nocturnal but the Gobi Girls came out from their burrow in the wood shavings at any time if there was something interesting for them to eat or climb on.
These four lived together quite happily but really reed voles are fairly solitary animals with large home ranges in the wild. If any more are kept together they can get really aggressive so we treated them with respect. They may have been small but they couldn't half be scary when they wanted to be. Mostly, the Gobi Girls spend their time digging and hanging from the roof of the apartment. We don't know why they did this and it looked pretty weird, but we still think they're cool and liked to go and see them when we were out and about. It's a pity they didn't speak the same language as us because we'd probably have got on really well. That's what comes of living in a cosmopolitan town like London!
Get your own free homepage!