A tiny rodent trims tall grasses so it can watch the skies for flying predators, new research shows. Brandts voles live in grassland in Inner Mongolia, China, where they are hunted by birds called shrikes.
Brandt’s voles live in grassland in Inner Mongolia, China, where they are hunted by birds called shrikes.
The new study — by the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Northeast Normal University of China and the universities of Exeter and Florida — found that the voles cut tall bunchgrass when shrikes are nearby.
The voles don’t eat or use the bunchgrass — they cut it to keep themselves safe, an example of «ecosystem engineering.»
«When shrikes were present, the voles dramatically decreased the volume of bunchgrass,» said Dr Dirk Sanders, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
«This led to fewer visits from shrikes — which apparently recognise cut-grass areas as poor hunting grounds.
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