Sexually rampant voles ruin Yorkshire village's tourist trade

METRO REPORTER - 16th June, 2010

Visitors to Flaxton in north Yorkshire are being forced to take a 10km (six-mile) diversion because of a colony of breeding water voles.

The village’s shops and pub are suffering a trading slump after bridge repairs had to be suspended until the autumn – when the voles have finished mating.

Landlady Lorraine Ritchie, of the Blacksmith’s Arms, said: ‘We’re losing £700 a week and this is the busiest time of the year. We’ve come through the recession and we can’t get on.’

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/831209-sexually-rampant-voles-ruin-villages-tourist-trade

Watch out Mr Toad, Ratty's eating frogs

LONDON (Reuters) - British ecologists have discovered evidence that normally herbivorous water voles living alongside canals and rivers have been eating frogs' legs this Spring. The timid water vole, immortalised as "Ratty" in the "Wind in the Willows" children's novel and films, is Britain's fastest declining mammal and is known to have a largely vegetarian diet consisting of grass and plants.

05 May 2010 13:28 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - British ecologists have discovered evidence that normally herbivorous water voles living alongside canals and rivers have been eating frogs' legs this Spring.

The timid water vole, immortalised as "Ratty" in the "Wind in the Willows" children's novel and films, is Britain's fastest declining mammal and is known to have a largely vegetarian diet consisting of grass and plants.

However, a survey along the Kennet & Avon Canal in the southern English county of Berkshire has revealed that these shy, furry animals have developed a taste for continental cuisine and have been snacking on frogs' legs, as well as the odd snail, British Waterways said in a statement on its website.

British Waterways ecologist Robert Randall said his team found a number of typical water vole feeding areas that were littered with dead frogs, minus their legs.

"We're not really sure why it's happening, but as the evidence coincides with the water voles' breeding season, we think it may be that pregnant mothers are snacking on frogs' legs as they lack protein in their diet," he added.

"This is incredibly unusual behaviour and as far as we know this is the first recorded evidence we have of them eating frogs' legs, so it's a really exciting discovery."

British Waterways asked people to report any water voles they see or any other wildlife activity in the country's canals and rivers on its website at www.waterscape.com/wildlifesurvey.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; Editing by Steve Addison)

http://news.stv.tv/oddly-enough/175140-watch-out-mr-toad-rattys-eating-frogs/

Voles' frog food

05 May 2010 16:30 GMT

British water voles have been eating frog's legs.

Researchers in Berkshire, England, were stunned to discover a group of the rodents have been dining on the tasty treats - typically served as a delicacy in French restaurants - possibly as a way of getting protein into their usually vegetarian diet.

Ecologist Oda Dijksterhuis said: "We found a number of typical water vole feeding areas that were littered with dead frogs, minus their legs.

"As a water vole's diet is normally vegetarian, this rather gruesome scene isn't what we'd expect to find at all."

Numbers of water voles are decreasing in the UK, with as little as 220,000 thought to now live there - down from eight million in 1960.

http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/175179-voles-frog-food/

Researchers create first transgenic prairie voles

December 1, 2009

Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have successfully generated the first transgenic prairie voles, an important step toward unlocking the genetic secrets of pair bonding. The future application of this technology will enable scientists to perform a host of genetic manipulations that will help identify the brain mechanisms of social bonding and other complex social behaviors. This advancement may also have important implications for understanding and treating psychiatric disorders associated with impairments in social behavior. The study is available in the December issue of Biology of Reproduction.

Lead researcher Zoe Donaldson, PhD, and her colleagues adapted transgenic technology to the prairie vole, a naturally occurring monogamous rodent that is being used to discover the brain mechanisms underlying monogamous pair bonds.

"Domesticated lab rats and mice dominate biomedical research, but wild rodent species with more complex social behaviors are better suited for investigating the biology of the social brain. Until now, genetic engineering among rodents has been limited to lab mice and rats," says Donaldson.

Single-cell prairie vole embryos were injected with a lentivirus containing a gene found in glowing jellyfish. The gene encodes a green fluorescent protein, which glows under the appropriate conditions. The prairie vole that developed from this embryo expressed the green fluorescent protein throughout its body, and the foreign gene was passed on to the offspring for multiple generations.

Larry Young, PhD, a Yerkes-based senior investigator on the study and an expert in social behavior, will next use this technology to determine whether monogamy and its associated social behaviors can be affected by manipulating a single gene. Researchers are also investigating ways to refine this technology in order to alter gene expression in certain brain regions as well as at certain developmental milestones.

Source: Emory University (news : web)

http://www.physorg.com/news178895408.html

Researchers create first transgenic prairie voles

December 1, 2009

Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have successfully generated the first transgenic prairie voles, an important step toward unlocking the genetic secrets of pair bonding. The future application of this technology will enable scientists to perform a host of genetic manipulations that will help identify the brain mechanisms of social bonding and other complex social behaviors. This advancement may also have important implications for understanding and treating psychiatric disorders associated with impairments in social behavior. The study is available in the December issue of Biology of Reproduction.

Lead researcher Zoe Donaldson, PhD, and her colleagues adapted transgenic technology to the prairie vole, a naturally occurring monogamous rodent that is being used to discover the brain mechanisms underlying monogamous pair bonds.

"Domesticated lab rats and mice dominate biomedical research, but wild rodent species with more complex social behaviors are better suited for investigating the biology of the social brain. Until now, genetic engineering among rodents has been limited to lab mice and rats," says Donaldson.

Single-cell prairie vole embryos were injected with a lentivirus containing a gene found in glowing jellyfish. The gene encodes a green fluorescent protein, which glows under the appropriate conditions. The prairie vole that developed from this embryo expressed the green fluorescent protein throughout its body, and the foreign gene was passed on to the offspring for multiple generations.

Larry Young, PhD, a Yerkes-based senior investigator on the study and an expert in social behavior, will next use this technology to determine whether monogamy and its associated social behaviors can be affected by manipulating a single gene. Researchers are also investigating ways to refine this technology in order to alter gene expression in certain brain regions as well as at certain developmental milestones.

Source: Emory University (news : web)

http://www.physorg.com/news178895408.html