Red-Backed Vole | The Cove Forest

(clethrionomys gapper)

This rodent is a relative of the muskrat and lemming. This vole is found only in cove forests at higher altitudes in the mountains of South Carolina. It is semifossorial using underground runways and spaces between rocks and tree roots. The adults of this vole have a broad reddish band running from their head to their rump. They eat underground fungi and seeds, nuts, ferns lichens and berries.