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Mole (Talpidae insectivora) |
The mole is part of the Talpidae family, order insectivora, and has a pointed snout, rudimentary eyes, soft thick velvety fur, broad feet and long powerful claws on the front pair of legs. The mole, or "little gentleman in velvet" is a worm catcher of astonishing rapidity and devours his own bodyweight in worms in a short time. He needs 50% of his bodyweight in food per day and can quickly die of starvation. He eats mainly worms, which he holds in his front paws like a squirrel and wipes it clean with his claws, but he also eats slugs and snails or whatever appropriate meal he comes across! In deciduous woods on clay soil there will be enough worms to feed two moles per acre and he will not often have to venture above ground from his underground tunnels. Earthworms fall into their tunnels and he will sense them, catch them and often store them injured but alive in his larder at the side of an underground run. Nesting Mole Myths "Moles
are rodents" "Moles
are blind" "Moles
are territorial and live alone" Donald and Lillian Stokes in their book, Animal Tracking and Behaviour 1986, say: "Moles are believed to remain solitary as adults and avoid contact with other moles. However, there are at least two exceptions. One occurs in the spring, when the males start to move around and leave their range in search of females. They may move about for several weeks, even after all the females in an area have mated. The other exception is that occasionally some tunnels are used by several moles; these tunnels are, in a sense, like highways. This communal use suggests that the social system of moles is more complex than we think." "Moles
eat 2 3 times their body weight per day" "Moles
are eating my plant bulbs and roots"
"Moles
are nocturnal (active only during the night)" |
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