up to 112 weeks, although the median lifespan is only 43 weeks. Evolution The oldest known fossils of singing voles date from the Ionian, around 300,000 years ago, and were found near Fairbanks. During the Ice Ages of the late Pleistocene, singing voles may have been much more widely distributed than today, and fossils have been reported from as far south as Iowa, which was then probably similar in climate to present-day Alaska. The closest living relative of the Singing Vole today is the insular vole, which is found only on two small islands off the west coast of Alaska, and probably diverged as those islands were cut off from the Beringia land bridge by rising sea levels. References External links Singing Arctic land animals Mammals of the Arctic Mammals of Canada Mammals of the United States Rodents of North America Fauna of Alaska Mammals described in 1901 Least concern biota of North America Least concern biota of the United States