Moles stockpile paralysed earthworms in underground larders, sometimes over a thousand at once
A mole's saliva carries a toxin that paralyses earthworms, so it can keep them alive but helpless for later meals. Researchers have dug up larders holding more than a thousand worms. The tunnels themselves work as traps, and the mole races along to collect whatever tumbles in.
Moles are small burrowing mammals with tube-shaped bodies, velvety fur, tiny hidden eyes and ears, reduced hind legs and short, muscular forelimbs ending in broad digging paws. True moles belong to the family Talpidae, from the Latin talpa, and live across much of North America, Asia and Europe, though not Ireland. African golden moles and Australian marsupial moles live similar lives but are not related.
Their bodies are tuned for stale underground air. A special haemoglobin grabs oxygen more strongly than usual, and moles rebreathe exhaled air, so they tolerate carbon dioxide levels that would trouble other mammals. Each forepaw also has an extra thumb, a single sickle-shaped bone that grows from a transformed wrist bone, evolved independently yet resembling the giant panda's false thumb. Shrews, their closest relatives, lack it.
Diet is mostly earthworms and other soil invertebrates, though moles are technically omnivores. Before eating a worm, a mole squeezes it between its paws to push out the soil in its gut. The star-nosed mole finds, catches and swallows food faster than a human eye can follow. Gardeners often see moles as pests, but they aerate soil, eat slugs and root-munching grubs and feed other predators in turn.
Moles are loners that meet only to mate, and males may fight hard if they cross paths. Breeding usually runs from February to May, with males squealing and tunnelling into unfamiliar ground to find females. The eastern mole of North America carries young for about 42 days and bears three to five, mostly in March and early April. Males are called boars and females sows. The old English name, moldwarp or mouldywarp, shares roots with Germanic words meaning soil-thrower.
Source: Mole (animal)
