California

UC Davis Researchers Try to Save Mojave Rodent

University of California, Davis researchers working to save an endangered Mojave Desert rodent have successfully bred some of the animals in captivity.

The subspecies concerned is the Amargosa vole, a gerbil-like creature that lives in dwindling marshes in the Mojave. The researchers removed ten females and ten males from the wild over the summer to make sure a breeding population remained.

Drought, climate change and habitat loss have brought the vole to near extinction. UC Davis veterinary medicine professor Janet Foley described the animal's key habitat as now smaller than a football field.

California fish and wildlife officials announced Thursday that three of the captive vole pairs produced pups by October.

Researchers hope to start releasing the bred voles back to Mojave marshes by 2015.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us