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Over the past few weeks, residents of the local area have been debating on whether the brown furry creatures that we see swimming in our waters could actually be water voles. Water voles are vulnerable to extinction in the UK and are threatened by many factors such as pollution and habitat fragmentation. In contrast, brown rats are not at all of conservation concern. Their population numbers are stable and they are often spotted at Tooting Common.
So, how can we really tell the difference between these two species?
Face shape: Brown rats have much longer, pointier faces, and water voles have much rounder faces.
Ear visibility: The ears of a brown rat are very easy to see whereas the ears of water voles are mainly hidden in their fur.
Tail appearance: Rats have long hairless tails but water voles have tails much shorter, which is often not obvious to see.
Fur colour: Brown rats are grey-brown coloured, whereas water voles are more of an orange-brown colour.
Body shape: Rats are much longer and thinner than the more rounded water vole.
It is clear that it is much more likely that the brown creatures we see swimming and scurrying around are brown rats, but there is hope for water vole populations in London. Rewildling group Citizen Zoo have big plans to reintroduce water voles to south London next year. This is a fantastic project, and I wish it all the success!
For now, I think it is best to assume it is brown rats we are seeing in our waters, that have adapted to be fantastic swimmers.
If you would like to find out more about the differences between water voles and brown rats, and the conservation of water voles, please see below, where some of the information for this article was adapted from: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/october/endangered-water-voles-to-be-reintroduced-to-london.html , https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/home-garden/gardening/wildlife/mammals/water-vole-or-brown-rat#:~:text=The%20brown%20rat%20has%20a%20pointed%20face%20with%20obvious%20ears,and%20often%20remains%20tucked%20away.