How does the northern mole vole see?
The northern mole vole (Ellobius talpinus) is a mammal in the order Rodentia. Its eyes belong to the vision type Small prey mammal (UV).
Measured in this species: sharpness, foveas and night vision. Measured core: measured values on at least 3 of the 6 dials. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has two colour receptor classes (a dichromat): reds and greens fall on one axis, as in red-green colour blindness in people.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 0.9 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- Both eyes see the same 80° in front of it (binocular overlap), where depth is judged best.
- It stops seeing flicker at 62.5 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks about the same.[9][10]
- Activity pattern: nocturnal.
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 2 receptor classes: 360 nm (UVS), 500 nm (MWS (green)) receptor set of nearest measured relative Phodopus sungorus (same family Cricetidae) | Estimated | [1] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Estimated | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 0.9 cycles per degree median of 1 anatomical-ganglion rows (method priority rule) | Measured | [2] |
| Field of view | Binocular overlap 80° median of 3 relatives in family Cricetidae: Mesocricetus auratus, Neotoma floridana, Onychomys leucogaster | Estimated | [3][4] |
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 0 fovea_present / area_centralis_type (retinal topography; count 1 = fovea present, 0 = none) | Measured | [5] |
| Fovea type none | Measured | [5] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern nocturnal tie ['diurnal', 'nocturnal'] broken by the broader category (round-3 tie-break rule 3: cathemeral > crepuscular > nocturnal > diurnal) (of 2 rows): diurnal; nocturnal | Measured (not re-verified) | [6][7] |
| Rods vs cones rod-dominated nocturnal -> rod-dominated; crepuscular / cathemeral / mixed -> mixed; diurnal -> cone-dominated | Derived | [6][7] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 62.5 Hz median of 7 relatives in order Rodentia: Rattus norvegicus, Cavia porcellus, Mus musculus, Callospermophilus lateralis, Tamias amoenus, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus | Group default | [8][9][10][11] |
Related animals
- Brown rat same vision type
- House mouse same vision type
- Mongolian jird same vision type
- Syrian hamster same vision type
- Daurian ground squirrel same vision type
- Degu same vision type
More mammals: all mammals with measured vision data.
Sources
- Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
- Veilleux CC, Kirk EC 2014. Visual acuity in mammals. Brain Behav Evol 83:43, Supplementary Table 1 (cleaned CSV in Evo-M1-Trait-Data). doi.org/10.1159/000357830
- Heesy CP 2004. On the relationship between orbit orientation and binocular visual field overlap in mammals. Anat Rec 281A:1104, Table 1. doi.org/10.1002/ar.a.20116
- Heffner RS, Heffner HE 1992. Visual factors in sound localization in mammals. J Comp Neurol 317:219, Table 1 (via Evo-M1 sensory merge). doi.org/10.1002/cne.903170302
- Kopania EEK, Clark NL. 2025. Mammalian retinal specializations for high acuity vision evolve in response to both foraging strategies and morphological constraints. Evolution Letters 9: qrae072. Supplementary Tables S1-S2.. doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrae072
- Wilman et al. 2014 EltonTraits 1.0, MamFuncDat.txt. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
- Moura et al. 2024. A phylogeny-informed characterisation of global tetrapod traits addresses data gaps and biases. PLoS Biol 22:e3002658. TetrapodTraits v3.0.1.. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22536349
- Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
- Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?