All about Moles…

Student Spotlight - Sorrel Shepherd

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about moles from one of our university mammal challenge teams!

Moles are a fascinating species of mammal which are widespread across the UK but are often overlooked in comparison to other native species. They are elusive creatures whose presence is most commonly spotted by their distinctive molehills which mark the entrances to their tunnels. In fact, molehills are the mammal sign that I and the rest of my team, Lancaster Lagomorphs, see most often on our transects across campus which we do as part of the University Mammal Challenge. I believe that the weird and wonderful moles deserve their own time in the spotlight, so I wanted to highlight five unusual features of European moles.

Some molehills spotted on campus. PC: Anna Foster

 1. Extra thumbs

In order to help them dig through the soil, moles have an extra set of thumbs which give them their characteristic spade-like paws. Scientists puzzled for a long time about what caused these extra digits, but it was unearthed that they are actually formed from co-opted wrist bones!

An up close photo of the paw of a European Mole. PC: Muséum de Toulouse, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia commons - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0,

2. Worm refrigerators

European moles are insectivorous mammals whose diet consists of mostly worms, along with other insects and larvae. They catch their prey using underground tunnels which they burrow out. Moles are known to store these worms immobilised in special tunnels which act like larders, with some containing hundreds of them!

3. Fascinating fur

Another interesting feature about moles is their fur, which doesn’t lie flat either way! This is because moles spend most of their time underground in tight tunnels, and their fur sticking up allows them to reverse backwards without brushing their hairs the wrong way.

4. Blind as a mole?

Contrary to popular belief, European Moles are actually not blind. While they are born blind like many mammals, the adults do have small eyeballs buried within their fur, and some (relatively poor) vision. This is in contrast to other mole species such as the Iberian Mole found in Spain and Portugal, which has eyes that are permanently closed due to its lack of eyelids

PC: Christoph Moning, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

5. Eimer’s organs

In addition to moles’ keen sense of smell and admittedly limited vision, a key way they sense their environment is using Eimer’s organs. These special sensory organs are concentrated on their snout, and allow them to have a keen sense of touch to navigate around their dark underground tunnels. These organs are unique to moles and have only been identified in the Talpidae family, with the Star Nosed Mole having the highest concentration of them on their characteristic nose appendages.

The nose of a mole. PC: Martyn Fletcher, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

European Moles are unique native mammals that are often underestimated due to their reclusive nature and underground habitat. Hopefully with these facts in mind you too can see how fascinating moles are, and can share my appreciation for these important parts of our ecosystem which belong in our natural landscape just as much as the more high profile species. 

Sources:

Catania, K. (2019). Mole senses. Current Biology, 29(17), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982219309455

Find out more about the University Mammal Challenge here.