European Moles, Description, Origin & Distribution, Habitats, Diet, Conservation, Lifespan, and Reproduction

 European Moles

Description of Mole

European Moles are tiny fossorial animals found across Europe. Their fur is normally dark grey, however, it can vary depending on where they live. These moles have little eyes covered beneath hair and ears that are merely ridges in the skin. European moles are well-suited to living underground. Their forelegs are small yet strong, with broad claws. 

Moles utilize them to assist drag the animal along when excavating tunnels. Their rear legs are significantly smaller. In this species, females are generally smaller than males. Moles are around 14 centimeters long with a 2.8-centimeter tail. Moles are developed specifically for their underground digging lifestyle. A mole can tunnel through 14 meters of the earth in only one hour.

Moles have cylindrical bodies, wide, spade-like forelimbs with claws, and very muscular shoulders. It has a hairless pink nose that is incredibly sensitive.

The body of a mole is coated in velvety, thick silver-black fur that conceals the tiny eyes. In other situations, moles' eyes are completely obscured by hair and skin. This condition of the eyes is most likely due to a progressive decline from disuse, maybe helped by natural selection. Moles lack external ears and have limited eyesight, but they have good senses of smell and touch.

Male moles are referred to as 'boars,' while female moles are referred to as sows.' A 'labor' is a group of moles.

Origin & Distribution of Mole

Moles are present across the United Kingdom but not in Ireland. They are found in most ecosystems where the soil is deep enough to allow burrowing, although they are infrequent in coniferous woods, moorlands, and sand dunes, most likely due to a lack of prey.

Habitats of Mole

The preferred habitats of British moles are wooded hilly areas in the north and west of England, Wales, and Scotland. A spherical ball in the middle of their territory is lined with dry grasses and leaves obtained from the surface and is positioned in the burrow.

Except for Antarctica and South America, moles may be found on every continent. They dwell in meadows, urban areas, gardens, grasslands, sand dunes, mixed forests, or any other environment where they may build tunnels in the soil. They tend to avoid locations with acidic soil, high moors, and steep terrain.

Moles go via tunnels, but tunnels are more than simply underground roadways. Moles excavate customized chambers at tunnel ends that serve as bedrooms and birthing places. Moles will sometimes spend generations living in a succession of tunnels before relocating.

Moles have kitchens in their underground chambers as well. They mostly devour earthworms and keep them alive and immobile by biting their heads before storing them in the chamber.

Diet of Mole

British moles are predators that subsist nearly entirely on tiny invertebrate species that live underground, such as earthworms and beetle and fly larvae.

A mole may also grab little mice at the entrance to its burrow on occasion. Moles can preserve their still-living prey for later eating because their saliva includes a poison that can paralyze earthworms. They build unique subterranean 'larders' expressly for this purpose. Researchers discovered such larders with over a thousand earthworms. Moles pinch earthworms between their clenched paws before devouring them to push the gathered earth and dirt out of the worm's intestines.

The most significant component of the mole's food is earthworms; an 80g mole requires 50g of earthworms every day. Moles eat numerous insect larvae, especially in the summer, although earthworms predominate in the winter. Moles will occasionally gather and store their food (earthworms) alive in special chambers. A bite to the head section immobilizes the stored worms, and up to 470 worms have been observed in one chamber.

Behavior of Mole

British moles use their tunnels to sleep, eat, and reproduce. Moles only come above ground at the summit of one of their distinctive molehills, and even then, just the head and the pink fleshy nose are visible.

Moles are solitary creatures who fiercely guard their burrow networks. Because of their underground existence, they are rarely seen. However, you typically know when they're nearby. Excess dirt is pushed to the surface as moles excavate and maintain their underground tunnel networks, generating molehills. Although many gardeners and lawn caretakers dislike moles, their digging is really advantageous. It aerates, mixes, and improves drainage by aerating and mixing soil layers.

Mole Mountain

Moles have a highly developed sense of direction, and they keep a mental map of their intricate underground tube network.

The homogeneous texture of the fur allows it to lie in any direction, allowing the animal to quickly reverse in the tunnels.

Large molehills known as 'fortresses' can occur when the soil is thin or prone to floods. These fortresses may reach a height of one meter and feature a nest chamber as well as multiple radial tunnels.

The mole carries its tail upright, and the hairs on the tip provide information about its surroundings by brushing against the tunnel roof. Moles dig in lawns, creating molehills and dying the grass, and are thus sometimes considered pests. They have the potential to harm or kill plant roots. Moles, contrary to common perception, do not consume plant roots.

Molehills are distinctive and easily identified field marks that indicate the presence of moles. Molehills are made entirely of loose dirt. Moles dig by pushing loosened soil up a shaft to the surface, generating earth piles. These molehills are easily identified and indicate the presence of moles. Moles feed on molehills, particularly earthworms and insects.

Ecology

Moles spend nearly their entire lives below, in a network of permanent and semi-permanent tunnels. Surface tunnels are often short-lived and occur in recently cultivated fields, light sandy soil regions, and very shallow soils where prey is concentrated immediately below the surface. A system of permanent deep tunnels, hundreds of meters long and at varying depths in the earth, is more common. During times of drought and low temperatures, the deepest tunnels are most commonly used. Permanent tunnels are used for feeding periodically over extended periods of time, often by many generations of moles.

Reproduction of Mole

Female moles have one litter each year, with 2 to 7 young. The gestation period lasts four weeks. When the young are around 5 weeks old, they leave their mother.

Males and females spend most of the year alone, inhabiting isolated areas. Males expand their territory when the mating season begins, digging across wide distances in pursuit of females. System moles build one or more spherical nest chambers within the tunnel, each coated with a ball of dried plant material. Nests are used for both sleeping and rearing young. In the spring, a litter of three or four naked infants is born. Fur begins to develop at 14 days, eyes open at 22 days, and weaning occurs at 4-5 weeks. The young leave the nest at 33 days and depart their mother's range at 5-6 weeks. Dispersal occurs above ground and is a dangerous moment. Moles reach sexual maturity in the spring after birth.

Conservation of Mole

In the United Kingdom, moles have no legal protection and are generally viewed as pests by farmers, horticulturists, and green-keepers. Surface tunneling in freshly planted fields may cause plant roots to wilt and die. Mole hills wreak havoc on agricultural machinery and contaminate the grass needed to manufacture silage. Moles were captured in considerable quantities for their pelts around the turn of the century, but they are now destroyed as pests. This is accomplished by trapping, which can be brutal.

Strychnine was often used to poison moles. Strychnine poisoning causes slow and excruciating death, and it is extremely harmful to other wildlife, domestic animals, and people. Because of these factors, it is currently prohibited to use strychnine to poison moles or other animals. Moles may be useful to humans since they prey on many dangerous insect larvae such as cockchafers and carrot flies, and their tunnels assist drain and aerating heavy soils.

Lifespan of Mole

Most moles do not survive more than three years, although they can live up to six years. Tawny owls and buzzards, stoats, cats, and dogs, are their principal predators as well as some automobile fatalities. Many pests in agriculture are also eliminated by humans.

A mole has a life expectancy of 2.5 years.