Creature Feature – Mini, Mighty Moles

Are you suffering from Spring Fever yet? While it’s pleasant to think ahead to spring, we can usually count on March to deliver a wallop of winter. Whatever the weather, there’s plenty of interesting things going on this month. Take moles, for example. Unless they’re pushing up mounded tunnels on our lawns, we don’t typically think about moles. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say. Nevertheless, moles are cool little creatures, beneficial to their subterranean ecosystem and beyond. 

Busy and industrious even through winter, moles actively dig around under the frost line, hunting for grubs, insects and their pupae, and other small prey. They can tunnel up to 18 feet an hour! Although small, they have BIG appetites. To supplement their diet, moles keep a living stockpile of earthworms that they’ve immobilized with toxins in their saliva. A single cache can contain over 450 semi-paralyzed worms, each riddled with tiny bite marks.

While their eyesight is notoriously poor, moles have a highly sensitive sense of touch, particularly through their tiny snouts. They also have the ability to detect odors “in stereo,” meaning they can detect scents immediately as well as the direction from which they emanate. Finally, it’s interesting to note that although they resemble mice, moles are not rodents but are most closely related to shrews, bats, and – surprisingly – hedgehogs!

Article by Margie Manthey
Photo by Michael David Hill – Wikimedia Commons