There are many ways to cope with the cold and snow of another northland winter. Flying south to warmer weather is a popular way for some birds. For mammals hibernation is an interesting option. But if you don’t migrate nor hibernate what can you do? The Eastern Mole (Scalopus aquaticus) just digs a deeper tunnel to escape the advancing frost line.
The Eastern Mole is one of a handful of species that live a subterranean (underground) lifestyle. Like cave dwelling animals, life underground offers some good benefits—constant temperatures, no rain, wind or snow and limited predators.
The Eastern Mole is by far the most wide ranging mole species in North America covering nearly the entire eastern US where soils are favorable. It prefers moist loamy or sandy soils and avoids heavy clay, gravelly or extremely wet soils. So if you live in an area with decent dirt, chances are you have a resident mole.
Evidence of moles in your yard may include a network of tunnels just below the surface. These appear like a series of meandering ridges of pushed up soil. Along with ridges, will be small piles of freshly excavated dirt (mole hills). These dirt piles rarely have an entrance or exit hole and should not be confused with the larger piles of dirt left by the Pocket Gopher.
About the size of a large potato, the Eastern Mole is gray to nearly black with short, velvety soft, dense hair. The hair is hinged at the base so that it can bend forward and backward with little friction to aid in moving back and forth within tight tunnels. As a result of their extensive geographic distribution, the Eastern Mole varies in color from black to blue in northern regions to gold and yellow in southern regions. Also, moles in the northland are larger than moles found in southern states.
Males are about 10 percent larger than females. Both have extremely short front legs and huge front feet. In fact, their front feet look very similar to a human hand with five long fingers, nails and even finger prints and life lines across the palms. The hands are the business end of the mole—they are diggers. The short legs and large hands are extremely powerful and are used to tunnel through the earth.
Unlike gophers and shrews, the moles lack any external ear openings and they don’t have functioning eyes. Life underground limits their need to see and hear. In fact, they spend 99 percent of their life underground in tunnels. They are solitary except to mate. True to form, males will construct a more extensive network of tunnels than females. There are two basic types of tunnels—shallow surface tunnels which are for finding food such as earthworms. Surface tunnels change nearly daily while the deep tunnels are permanent. Deep tunnels are used for many years and lead to nesting chambers, and to escape the cold of winter.
So, this winter when you start to feel like you are living in a tunnel or cave, just think of the Eastern Mole.
Until next time…