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These are brown rats.
Rats are one of the most versatile creatures on the planet.
They're brilliant at adapting to living in new places and they seem to get everywhere! |
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They can squeeze their bodies through tiny holes, they can jump and climb, and they can swim for miles! |
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Rats can be found wherever there are people.
In fact, in the UK you'll never be too far away from a rat.
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Unfortunately, rats have a pretty bad reputation, because they can spread some pretty nasty diseases.
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In the UK, rats are classed as vermin because they live in dirty places like sewers and rubbish tips.
But there's another brilliant creature that looks rather like a rat and is often mistaken for one.
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It's the water vole.
Unlike rats, they're very choosy about where they live.
They like nice riverside homes in the country. |
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The rat and the water vole may look similar but they're two very different creatures, leading very different lives.
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There's one definite way of telling which creature is which.
It's all in the tail! The rat has a scaly tail, but the water vole has a hairy one.
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Rats are very common, but water voles are less well known.
They make their homes in the banks of streams and rivers because they're very happy near water.
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It's rather strange, because water voles don't actually eat anything that's in the water.
They don't eat fish – in fact they're vegetarian! They like to eat their food from plants and grasses that grow by the river.
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So why do they live there, then?
Well, it's all to do with trying to avoid being eaten!
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As you can see in this burrow that was in the studio, there's usually one entrance below the water…
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…and one above.
This means that if the water vole is under attack and has to escape, it has two possible exit routes.
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Which is a good thing, because there are plenty of animals out there that like to eat water voles – otters, mink, stoats, heron, barn owls, pike and so on.
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And if two escape routes aren't enough, the water vole has another escape trick.
When being chased underwater by a predator such as an otter, the water vole will raise a cloud of mud from the bottom, which acts like a smokescreen that allows the water vole to swim off without being attacked.
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Clever, eh?
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