Yellow Steppe Lemming

The yellow steppe lemming has a tail of 12–22 millimetres, hind feet of 19–21 millimetres and ears of 5–9 millimetres. The fur is pale sandy-brown, partly with darker washes on the nape and around the eyes. The flanks are sand-yellow and merge into the pale yellow belly, and the upper sides of the feet and the hair on the soles are yellow-brown. The thumb of the forefeet has a small pointed claw. Young animals often have an indistinct light stripe down the middle of the back that adults lack. (German Wikipedia, general species account)

This vole occurs in eastern Kazakhstan, Russia, western Mongolia and northern China. Because of its high reproduction rates, in some years the animals can reach very high densities, while in other years populations can collapse almost completely in some regions. (German Wikipedia, general species account)