The Mole

Oct 02, 2016 Features / Columnists, Interesting Creatures in Guyana

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Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; reduced hind limbs; and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws oriented for digging.
Male moles are called “boars”, females are called “sows”. A group of moles is called a “labour”.
Moles have been found to tolerate higher levels of carbon dioxide than other mammals, because their blood cells have a special and unique haemoglobin protein. Moles are able to reuse the oxygen inhaled when above ground, and as a result, are able to survive in low-oxygen environments such as underground burrows.
Moles have polydactyl forepaws; each has an extra thumb (also known as a prepollex) next to the regular thumb. While the mole’s other digits have multiple joints, the prepollex has a single, sickle-shaped bone which develops later and differently from the other fingers during embryogenesis from a transformed sesamoid bone in the wrist, independently evolved but similar to the giant panda thumb.
This supernumerary digit is species-specific, as it is not present in shrews, the mole’s closest relatives. Androgenic steroids are known to affect the growth and formation of bones, and a connection is possible between this species-specific trait and the “male” genitals apparatus in female moles of many mole species (gonads with testicular and ovary tissues).
A mole’s diet primarily consists of earthworms and other small invertebrates found in the soil, and a variety of nuts. The mole runs are in reality ‘worm traps’, the mole sensing when a worm falls into the tunnel and quickly running along to kill and eat it. Because their saliva contains a toxin that can paralyze earthworms, moles are able to store their still-living prey for later consumption. They construct special underground “larders” for just this purpose; researchers have discovered such larders with over a thousand earthworms in them. Before eating earthworms, moles pull them between their squeezed paws to force the collected earth and dirt out of the worm’s gut.
The star-nosed mole can detect, catch and eat food faster than the human eye can follow (under 0.3 seconds).
Moles’ pelts have a velvety texture not found in surface animals, whose pelts tend to be longer and react differently to being rubbed in different directions. To facilitate their burrowing lifestyle, mole pelts are short and very dense and have no particular direction in which friction moves more or less smoothly. The leather is extremely soft and supple. Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, ordered a mole-fur garment to start a fashion that would create a demand for mole fur, thereby turning what had been a serious pest problem in Scotland into a lucrative industry for the country. Hundreds of pelts are cut into rectangles and sewn together to make a coat. The natural colour is taupe, but it is readily dyed any colour.
Moles are considered to be agricultural pests in some countries, while in others, such as Germany, they are a protected species, but may be killed if a permit is received. Problems cited as caused by moles include contamination of silage with soil particles, making it unpalatable to livestock, the covering of pasture with fresh soil reducing its size and yield, damage to agricultural machinery by the exposure of stones, damage to young plants through disturbance of the soil, weed invasion of pasture through exposure of freshly tilled soil, and damage to drainage systems and watercourses.
Other species such as weasels and voles may use mole tunnels to gain access to enclosed areas or plant roots.
Moles burrow lawns, raising molehills, and killing the lawn, for which they are sometimes considered pests. They can undermine plant roots, indirectly causing damage or death. However, contrary to popular belief, moles do not eat plant roots.
They are controlled with traps such as mole-catchers, smoke bombs, and poisons such as calcium carbide and strychnine, which is no longer available in Britain. The most common method now is Phostoxin or Talunex tablets. They contain aluminium phosphide and are inserted in the mole tunnels, where they turn into phosphine gas (not be confused with phosgene gas).
High-grade nitrogen gas has proven an effective remedy, with the added advantage of having no polluting effect to the environment.
Other common defensive measures include cat litter and blood meal, to repel the mole, or flooding or smoking its burrow. Devices are also sold to trap the mole in its burrow, when one sees the “mole hill” moving and therefore knows where the animal is, and then commence stabbing it. Humane traps which capture the mole alive so it may be transported elsewhere are also options.
However, in many gardens, the damage caused by moles to lawns is mostly visual, and it is also possible to simply remove the earth of the molehills as they appear, leaving their permanent galleries for the moles to continue their existence underground.
Although the mole can be safely eaten by humans, the taste is said to be deeply unpleasant. (Source: Wikipedia)

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