Southern water vole

Description

The south-western aquatic vole ( Arvicola sapidus Miller,1908 ),also known as the southern aquatic vole,is a large amphibious vole widespread in almost all of France,but also in Spain and Portugal.Although in the past it was considered to belong to the same species as the European aquatic vole,Musser and Carleton (2005) consider it quite different from it to consider it a species in its own right.According to the IUCN Red List,it is almost an endangered species.It is threatened for the same reasons as its northern counterpart and a project is currently underway for its conservation,both at the national level and at the European Union level.