What helps the mole to live underground. How deep is a mole hole? How and to what depth does the mole dig the earth? Why does a mole build a hole

In the pine forest lived a mole named Creel. In the neighborhood with him lived his friend, the same little mole, his name was Muk. They very rarely climbed to the surface, sticking their heads out of their minks and talking to each other. Here they became clumsy and helpless and did not run far from the minks, because their vision in daylight is almost absent due to the fact that they spend their whole lives in underground passages.
Their mothers were always worried about them and very rarely allowed them to do so.
One day, when Creel stuck his head out of a mink, he was waiting for his friend. a field mouse ran past. She was very curious and when she saw him she asked:
- And who are you? I've never seen anyone like you here.
- I'm a mole Creel, I also never saw such animals as you!
Creel said:
- My mother told me that we are moles and, as everyone knows, we live in the ground to penetrate into the thickness of which we dig holes in a helical shape, screwing into the ground and raking it with our paws.
Our paws are perfectly adapted for this, they have huge curved claws and powerful muscles. Here look.
And he showed her his paw.
The mouse, seeing his long claws, ran away from him and said:
- Wow, how long they are!
- Yes, they are like shoulder blades. With them we dig long passages underground, along which we quickly move.
We are moles, perhaps the most famous animal on earth, which digs holes in its habitats. As you can see, we are small and almost blind hard workers who are able to dig up to hundreds of holes and up to a kilometer of tunnels per day.
“It’s not possible that you could dig such a long hole for yourself in a day?”
- No, not a hole, but a tunnel to it! It's like in the subway, first the tunnel, and then the station. This is our underground kingdom.
We are very famous underground inhabitants of the planet. We are very small, but we are of great use in forests, gardens and orchards. My grandfather told me this story.
The fact that we belong to those inhabitants of the planet who exterminate harmful insects, and we can regulate the mass reproduction of some of their species. The basis of our nutrition is soil invertebrates, among which earthworms occupy a large proportion, soil-living insects and their larvae are eaten by moles in a smaller amount. We destroy the larvae of the May beetle, weevil, cutworm caterpillars and even the bear.
There was such a well-known case when, after catching moles in one of the Czech parks, hordes of May beetles appeared there in such numbers that they began to destroy everything that they could eat. Everyone knows that May beetles lay their eggs, from which beetles appear and then fly out in the ground. And we destroy them moles and by this we regulate their number. So that's why the authorities were forced to put moles there again.
Our weight is about 100 grams, length is not more than 20 centimeters in length, covered with even beautiful fur. Here look!
Creel got out of his mink, and showed his beautiful, even and smooth fur in front of the mouse.
- And look at what an elongated movable nose I have, tiny blind eyes, flat wide paws with hefty claws - here's the look of a typical mole.
And to be so beautiful, we are very voracious and can eat up to 20 to 23 kilograms of worms a year. And in order to mine them by swarming their tunnels at a speed of almost five, or even six meters per hour, and this is not enough to get one meter per minute. And then we run along them at a speed of twenty meters per minute. We are a storm of earthworms and other insects.
My grandfather said that compared to other animals of this size, we have twice the amount of blood and twice the amount of hemoglobin in it. This allows us to easily breathe underground, where the oxygen content is very low.
We Moles are perhaps the most famous animal that digs holes in their habitats. We are small and almost blind hard workers capable of making up to a hundred holes and up to a kilometer of tunnels per day.
One mole can build fifty to one hundred heaps a month.
The mouse listened to him with great interest and said:
“Of course, what you told me is interesting to me. But I also know a fairy tale about Thumbelina, which a field mouse wanted to pass off as a mole. Because he was very rich. But he lived underground without seeing the sunlight.
- There are a lot of myths and fairy tales about us, you're right. This is true. But these are fairy tales, but in real life we ​​have to constantly work.
What is it like to live underground? It is difficult to answer this question. You know, man and almost all animals and mammals settled on the surface of the planet, only occasionally delving into its bowels.
We also occasionally need the sun, clean air and at least some space, otherwise we begin to wither. This is true not only for humans, but also for the vast majority of mammals. Even if many of them live in burrows, they hunt and breed outside.
But as you can see, there are exceptions to every rule. We Moles are sure that the sun and space are greatly overrated.
In ancient times, we settled in many regions of the planet, but we prefer to live where the earth is wet and the winters are not too severe.
Our fellow Starbearers, or as they are also called starfish, are the same - small moles, live in the humid regions of Eastern Canada and in the northeastern part of the United States.
We can be found everywhere from Europe to Siberia itself. Our main habitats are the edges of forests, fields, vegetable gardens and orchards. Where the soil is quite soft and pliable.
We do not like only sandy soil in the vicinity of groundwater. But if we have to meet small open reservoirs on our way, we overcome them without much difficulty. Just swimming across them is all.
But seeing us moles is still not easy. On the surface, we almost do not get out.
And a sign that a mole has settled on some piece of land is, of course, the appeared pits and small mounds with earth neatly folded around the edges.
The mouse listened to Creel and asked him:
And how do you live when it's winter. We, for example, prepare food for ourselves for a long winter. Are you also stocking up for winter?
- Of course we do!
Do you think we're just digging the ground and that's it? Of course not!
We are laying numerous passages that have their own system and purpose. These passages are divided by us into residential and stern. We walk along residential areas from the nest to the feeding compartments or to the place of watering. Feeding areas serve as traps for catching the worms that we feed on.
But our main structure is the nest in which we sleep. It is located at a depth of up to two meters in a protected place, under stones, buildings or tree roots. Our nest is very cozy, it is lined with leaves and dry soft grass, as well as feathers and moss, which we find when we climb up.
In this way, all our passages form a well-coordinated system of galleries with passages and aft compartments, so to speak, located very close to the ground. And those holes in the ground that a person sees, in fact, serve only to throw out excess earth.
- So you, like us, work around the circle?
– Of course, it turns out that our year-round diligence and activity persists throughout the year. In winter, we can lay our passages even under the snow, or deeper, where the soil does not freeze through.
Because our constant movement and digging of the earth is the main condition for our survival, because the mole breathes ordinary air, for the same reason we do not settle on clay soils.
Our whole life is spent in the endless digging of holes and the search for food. Our metabolism, or, so to speak, the digestion of food, like other diggers, is prohibitively high. I need to eat as much food per day as I weigh myself. Without food, I can live no more than 15 hours, and then I just die of hunger. This leads to the fact that we not only hunt insects, but also create huge reserves for ourselves.
So it turns out that the main prey, and these are earthworms, as a rule, awaits a terrible fate.
Don't think we're not villains. This is our way of life laid down for us only in order not to perish. And if we die, then, as you understand, May bugs and worms will envelop the whole earth with their presence. And Man can't handle it. Because, destroying them, other inhabitants of the planet may die. Yes, and he himself.
- Yes, you are right, we, too, can die from poison, with which a person would poison bugs and worms!
You are probably going to tell me now how you stock up for the winter?
- Well, yes! If you are interested?
- Of course, interesting, but a little scary!
“But if you’re scared, I won’t do it!”
- No, I'm interested. I need to know this too!
- Then listen!
At the same time, we Moles take advantage of the fact that it is not easy to kill a worm. It is long and very slippery. But we have a trick for this, we bite through his head, these we immobilize him, and take him to our underground warehouse.
We have up to several hundred of these paralyzed worms in our warehouses, which we eat on hungry winter days.
If earthworms could communicate there, surely we moles in their stories would appear as the most terrible of the monsters. But the worms that are there are not given this. They all have bitten heads.
Of course it's cruel to them! But nature has not given us other life and the extraction of food in it for us moles. Everything is interconnected in it.
- Yes, it's sad to hear, but what to do. It really is so given to you by nature!
“And you must have thought that we are all the time eating and hunting for worms and other insects.
Of course not! We are moles, the owners of holes and tunnels are not limited, we get food for ourselves and its storage.
We are self-respecting animals! Because any self-respecting mole digs for himself, and then make a cozy underground nest. In his house, he sleeps off in between feedings.
This house is located at a depth of one and a half to two meters, as a rule, under the roots of a tree, shrub, large stone or human dwelling. That does not allow predators, eager to feast on our carcass, to take us diggers by surprise. As I said, we make our bedroom cozy, while maintaining perfect cleanliness and order there.
I would tell you a lot, but I need to go home.
“You told me a lot about your life, but you never answered my question! Why do moles dig holes?
“I told you that moles also breathe air. The mole, moving underground, pushes the ground apart in such a way that a flat tunnel with an exit upwards remains behind it. The earth that is dug up from time to time is thrown out into the open. The moves are a system of multi-tiered galleries, mostly located parallel to each other. The possessions of one mole can stretch for many hundreds of meters, into which air penetrates through holes in the ground, which the mole breathes.
That's why heaps of loose earth appear. They are like small beds dug by little midgets in the form of us moles. On these beds, in autumn, in the forest clearings, the seeds of birch and pine trees fly, which, falling on these small loose beds, germinate easily. And then beautiful trees grow out of them.

Mole - what do we know about this animal? Some people have an opinion about the mole according to the famous Czechoslovak cartoons, where he is so small, defenseless and good-natured, doing only good deeds. Others have the cartoon “Thumbelina”, where the “wealthy mole” is a kind of underground Gobsek, imposing, lazy, greedy ... And I won’t be mistaken if I say that 99% of people have never seen a living mole, and they think that this is such an underground mouse . Although almost all gardeners saw the results of his work.

People far from the garden and the garden believe that the mole is common throughout Belarus. From dressed mole skins (which, by the way, are stronger than rabbit and hare skins), you can make children's and adult fur coats, hats, collars, etc.

Moles are beneficial: they eat the larvae of pests of agricultural crops - May beetles, click beetles and others; laying underground passages, they loosen, mix the soil layers, and this enhances the penetration of air and moisture into them, and helps to increase fertility.

Moles are no less useful in the forest. Thanks to the passages laid by moles, hardwood seeds that have fallen into the soil germinate earlier than any other vegetation. Thus, favorable conditions are created for the natural regeneration of the forest.

However, the owners of "six acres" know that the mole is attracted by an unusually generous food supply, which is based on the first humus producer on the entire planet Earth. He (the mole) exterminates our best assistant at a rate of 80 to 150 grams per day.

As you know, they cause some harm to vegetable gardens, fields, meadows, forest and fruit nurseries. Not eating plant foods, but burrowing shallow from the soil surface, they disrupt the root system of plants. In addition, they dig up heaps of earth, which leads to the clogging of meadows and pastures and makes hay harvesting difficult for machines. Mouse-like rodents use mole passages. What are they turning the lawn into? And how does a gardener feel when he sees his favorite plant, which has survived the most severe winters, die because a mole has undermined it?

Thus, the statement about the usefulness of the mole, to put it mildly, is "far-fetched." It became clear to me that for the right one, you need to know where the mole lives, what it eats, how it breeds, what tools are required to catch it. So what should we know about the mole?

Mole. External Features

The mole belongs to the class of mammals, the order of insectivores, the mole family. In the CIS, there are 6 species of moles with 11 subspecies. All species and subspecies of moles, in general, similar to each other, differ in the size and structure of the teeth, skeleton, and some features of the lifestyle.

The animal, widespread on the territory of Belarus, belongs to the European mole species, subspecies of the South Russian mole (Talpa earopaea brauneri Sattnin). The same mole inhabits Ukraine and Moldova.

The appearance of the mole (Fig. 1) is peculiar, which is associated with its underground lifestyle. A short, thickened, cylindrical body, pointed in front and rounded behind, helps to better move along the courses.

Rice. 1. Common mole (adult animal on the surface of the earth)

Since the mole moves mainly with the help of the front of the body, it is developed much better than the back. His head is, as it were, drawn into his shoulders, so the external signs of the neck are not noticeable and the body passes into a cone-shaped head, ending in a small mobile proboscis, on the sides of which there are sensitive hairs - vibrissae.

The forelimbs are especially peculiar in the mole. Their feet are wide, shovel-shaped, turned outward, have five fingers, tightly pressed to each other, connected by membranes, with long flattened and strong claws up to 8-9 mm long. Connecting both front paws together, the mole digs the soil and pushes the earth along the sides of its underground dwelling. The hind limbs of the mole are small, weaker than the front ones, their fingers are without membranes and end in long sharp claws.

While eating and breaking through passages, the mole spreads its hind legs wide and rests them against the side walls of the underground channel. The mole has 44 teeth, the upper fangs are well developed. His eyes are the size of a pinhead, poorly developed or completely tightened with skin. There are no auricles, although the auditory openings are covered with a fold, the hearing of the animal is well developed (this is facilitated by the high sound conductivity of the soil). He also has a very good sense of smell. Tactile hairs are scattered throughout the body, and the mole senses the presence of earthworms through a 60 cm layer of soil. A short tail (1.5-2 centimeters), covered with coarse hairs, also helps with touch. Raising the tail up, the mole feels the ceiling of its course. If the hairs stop touching the ground, the animal becomes alert and often returns along its course.
The main differences between individuals of different sexes are: the average length of the male (from the tip of the proboscis to the root of the tail) is 120-190 millimeters, the female is 110-150, and the weight is 95 and 75 grams, respectively.

Young (arrival) moles differ from adults, in addition to size and weight, with a silvery tint of the skin. By autumn, these differences are almost imperceptible. It is easier to distinguish young moles from old ones by their gray-black front and hind legs (the legs brighten over time), as well as by pointed teeth (in adults they are more or less worn).

Mole. habitats

On the territory of Belarus, the mole is widely distributed and is found in absolutely all areas, inhabiting a wide variety of places.

The mole lives in meadows (floodplain and upland), forests (young birch forests, deciduous shrubs are more attracted), but prefers edges, clearings, thawed patches, places near roads warmed by the sun, forest clearings, as well as vegetable gardens, greenhouses, gardens, parks settlements , right-of-way and slopes of railways, arable land with cereals and other cultivated plants.

The mole avoids solid forests, pure spruce forests, pine forests growing on hills with sandy soils, strongly lowered and wetlands and floodplain meadows overgrown with sedge and other grasses with a strong root system.

Thus, the mole most often settles in places rich in humus soil, moderately moist and with enough food (earthworms, larvae, insects).

It is important for him to have earthworms in the upper soil horizons throughout the year. During drought and severe freezing of the soil (if there is not enough snow cover), they sink into its deeper layers and become inaccessible to the mole.

As it decreases, the number of lands inhabited by moles also decreases. The habitat of moles also depends on the amount of precipitation and air temperature. The more significant their fluctuations, the closer the mole moves to the forest, where the soil freezes less in winter and retains moisture longer in summer. In places with a rugged relief, moles can avoid a lack of moisture or its excess, moving from lowlands to highlands, and regulate temperature conditions, moving from better heated southern slopes to northern ones.

Mole. Mole nutrition

In connection with the burrowing activity of the mole, the question of its nutrition has attracted the attention of many scientists in various countries. As a result of a number of studies, it was proved that the mole feeds only on animal food, and the plant residues found in its stomach and intestines either accidentally get stuck to food, or in most cases from the intestines of the earthworms they eat. Plant residues are not digested and are thrown out. He searches for food by laying new passages and checking old ones. In these passages, earthworms accumulate, which, moving vertically to the soil surface, fall into the mole passage and linger in it, as well as the larvae of various insects. With a lack of this food, moles eat small vertebrates. In captivity, they eat the meat of frogs, rats, etc.

To replenish the energy expended for movement in the ground, the mole is forced to absorb a large amount of food. This is also caused by the fact that the metabolic processes in the mole are much faster than in other mammals. During the day, the mole eats such an amount of food that is equal to or exceeds its own weight (from 80 to 150 grams). If the mole is hungry enough, then he eats the worms immediately on the surface of the earth, and when he is more or less full, he takes his prey to the nearest underground passage and eats it there.

A mole can eat 40 grams of worms within half an hour, while its stomach can hold no more than 20 grams, after 5 hours it is again able to eat the same portion. After saturation, the mole falls into a sleepy state for 3-4 hours, after which it again begins to search for food.

Moles eat earthworms from the head, stretching them between the claws of the front paws. As a result, the worms are cleared of the earth, and the contents of the intestine are squeezed out of them. Moles do not swallow food whole, they gnaw even small insects, with the exception of certain types of earthworms.

In winter, the mole eats less than in summer. This can be explained by its less active burrowing activity and lack of food. Therefore, the weight of moles of both sexes is the smallest in winter.

Moles do not tolerate hunger well. They die 6-13 hours after the digestion of the ingested food, unless a new one arrives.

Moles drink very often. They usually arrange a nesting chamber not far from the water, to which many additional passages are laid. In captivity, moles drink 4-5 times a day. In autumn, they tend to stock up on earthworms for the winter, for this they bite their head ends. As a result, the worms remain alive, but paralyzed. Then the moles fold them in regular rows to the side walls of the passages.

Mole. Mole breeding

In Belarus, the mating season for moles begins shortly after the snow melts. In the western and southern regions, pregnant females begin to come across from April 17, and in the northern regions - from May 5-8. Early and cold spring delays these periods, which entails a prolongation of the mating period, birth dates, feeding of young animals and their resettlement. This leads to the production of a large number of pregnant and lactating females, and consequently, to a general reduction in the number of moles.

The duration of pregnancy of females is 35–40 days. The largest number of pregnant females occurs in May. Most females bring 6 cubs. On average, there are about 5 cubs per female.

Females bring in a year, as a rule, one litter. However, on the territory of Belarus, especially in the western and southern regions, it was found that 20–25% of females bring litters twice. The second, summer, offspring occurs from the end of June to the end of July. Signs of the female that gave the second offspring are well-developed mammary glands, nipples (there are 4 pairs), around which the hairline is wiped. In summer, the female fertility is lower than in spring: about 4 cubs per female.

Feeding of young animals lasts about a month. At this time, females often fall into traps. Young moles live peacefully among themselves, but as they mature, they become pugnacious. At the age of two months, in the middle or end of June, young moles begin to fall into traps, the size of which does not exceed 3/4 of an adult animal. They are already leading independent lives. From the end of June - beginning of July, their mass resettlement begins, which ends by the end of August.

In the first days of settlement, young moles run along the passages at once several pieces together. Often, young moles can be found on the surface of the earth, where they crawl out through holes in passages or molehills. Sometimes it is possible to catch one during the summer in a move in which all moles go in one direction, up to 50 or more specimens, among which up to 75% are young.

Moles settle very quickly, as they run along ready-made passages at a rather high speed - up to 6 m in 1 minute. Research by scientists shows that young moles travel a distance of up to 700 m in 20.5 hours, and adults in 20 minutes - 50 m. Young moles are more inclined to move than adult moles, the latter do not go further than 400 m in 11 months.

When settling, moles encounter small rivers and streams, which they quickly swim across. According to observations, on the Shchors River, a mole swam a distance of more than 30 m in 3 minutes. When swimming, the mole holds its head high above the water and quickly rakes with its front paws from the sides, and with its hind legs right in front of it, while twisting its entire body to the right and left. For the resettlement of moles in Belarus, the railway does not serve as an obstacle either. A nest was found 10 m from the railroad track Baranovichi - Slutsk. Moles even dig passages under the sleepers for many hundreds of meters, and along the embankments the passages stretch for whole kilometers.

The material was prepared by: horticultural specialist Buynovsky O.I.

• Read more: Common mole; Ordinary moles: how to deal with them

Mole food

The mole's food is mainly made up of earthworms and, in part, slugs, larvae of May beetles (beetles), clickers (wireworms), centipedes, bears, wood lice, caterpillars of harmful scoops and other insects - all who fall into its feeding passages. To catch them, moles make long passages at a shallow depth underground. The mole passage for earthworms is a trap with odorous or thermal bait, where the worms crawl themselves, attracted by the smell of mole musk and higher temperature.

The mole is so voracious that it is ready to devour any creature that accidentally fell into its hole, be it a mouse, snake, lizard or frog, when they are inactive.

At one time, the mole eats up to 20-22 g of earthworms. A mole eats a whole or torn worm from the end, holding it with its paws and cleaning it from the ground with both paws and front teeth. Having sated, the mole tucks its head and hind legs under its belly, takes the form of a black velvet ball and falls asleep for 4-5 hours. When he wakes up, he begins to run and dig in the ground, expressing obvious signs of hunger. During the day, it eats a lot of food - 50-60 g (up to its body weight), feeds 5-6 times, since the food eaten is digested in about 4 hours. Thus, a mole weighing about 100 g eats 20-23 kg of worms and other insects per year. A hungry mole can remain no more than 14-17 hours. With its UNUSUAL VORACITY, with a lack of earthworms, the mole must constantly expand the area of ​​\u200b\u200byour hunting and therefore is CONTINUOUSLY busy with the work of arranging new moves.

Mole passages (tunnels)

Digging does not present any difficulty for the mole: with the help of its strong occipital muscles and strong forelimbs, it drills loose soil with its snout, rakes it with its front paws and throws it back with extraordinary speed. Exploded earth is then ejected to the surface of the earth. In light soil, the animal moves almost as agile as a fish in water, and moves along its passages at the speed of a horse's trot.

In loose and moist soil, horizontal surface - fodder passages are laid. They are located at a depth of 2-5 cm. When laying them, the mole raises the ceiling of the passage in the form of an earthen mound that is clearly visible from the outside. There are no earth emissions. There are many such passages, their length can reach several kilometers. Such moves greatly spoil the look of lawns. Winding paths on lawns are "trials" that may no longer be used.

In open areas, where the soil often and deeply dries out, the passages are located at a depth of 10-50 cm from the surface. A mole cannot raise a layer of such power, therefore, the excess of earth is thrown out through temporary burrows to the surface in the form of characteristic small piles of molehills. The chain of molehills roughly corresponds to the direction of the deep run.

Residential passages are laid in the soil in several tiers at a depth of 5 to 60 cm and represent a complex system of multi-tiered galleries with a diameter of 5-5.5 cm. They serve as communication passages from the nest to different feeding areas or to a watering hole. (for comparison: the diameter of the moves of shrews is such that the index finger barely fits there).

Of particular importance are the deep passages under the paths, through which, like underground bridges, the most complex systems of surface passages are interconnected. Mole catchers set almost all their traps (mole catchers) in the passages under the trails. In one transition, up to a dozen or more moles are mined per week. Sometimes you can read about the privacy of moles in your hunting area. However, the author himself caught six or eight adult moles with traps in one area in only one of the passages.

In winter, moles often make under-snow passages on the soil surface among snow-covered herbage or in the thickness of the leaf litter.

The number of heaps or molehills in any area does not indicate the number of moles present in it. One mole (of the species S. townsendii) can build 50 to 100 piles per month.

Nest (den) of a mole

The nest (lair) is usually located in some secluded place, under the roots of trees, walls, etc. It is covered with grass, leaves, soft roots and is usually located at a depth of 30-60 cm to 1.5-2 m. The lair is surrounded by two circular galleries: one of them is larger and surrounds the lair at the same height with it, and the other is smaller large in parallel, but placed above it, above the lair. From the lair, three passages are laid upwards to the small gallery, and from it there are five or six passages to the large, lower gallery. From the large gallery, straight passages, eight to ten in number, radiate out in all directions, intersecting with the passages already described. At a certain distance, some of them turn and join the main exit from the nest. A special safety gallery, coming from the lair, is also connected to the main passage.

The main gallery is wider than the body of the mole. He can move freely and quickly in it. The walls of all the galleries are well rammed, solid and strong, since the mole, when building an underground dwelling, presses down the dug earth, and does not throw it up. The mole gently lines its lair with grass, leaves, moss and tender roots. In case of danger from above, he instantly pushes this soft bedding aside and rushes down the safety gallery, which begins right under the bedding. If danger threatens from below, the mole runs to the upper circular gallery with its many passages.

Only the facts about the mole:

A mole weighing about 100 g eats 20-23 kg of worms (and other insects) per year.

Moles can dig a surface tunnel at a speed of about 5.5 meters per hour (a meter in 10 minutes).

Moles move through existing tunnels at a speed of about 25 meters per minute.

Compared to other animals of similar size, moles have twice the amount of blood and twice the amount of hemoglobin in it. This allows the moles to breathe easily underground, where the oxygen content is reduced.

“I heard fuss underground,

A mole crawled out of a mink, a blind monk ... "

The mole is a small, palm-sized insectivorous mammal. The animal is not rare. Lives preferably in places where loose, fertile soil. The mole spends almost all its life underground, in deep burrows and passages, so its life is mysterious and inaccessible for observation. Rarely, but it is possible to see an underground inhabitant. And it is immediately clear that it is adapted exclusively for underground life.

Two very large forepaws-shovels are designed for digging the earth. And also the nose, very sensitive to smells, is intended for rough work - the mole bores the ground with its nose, rows with its paws like an excavator and pushes it back. Penetration speed - 30 cm per minute.

Eyes and ears are closed with folds of skin and hidden in wool to avoid clogging with earth. The mole's fur lies in any direction in the same way, and the mole successfully uses the "reverse". The mole has a tail. While moving, the tail indicates the height of the tunnel.

The underground animal has very poor eyesight. The eyes are very small, but if necessary, the eyeball extends, and the mole can see, well, at least what is outside - night or day.

Having chosen a suitable place to live, the mole equips it well. He has a place where he rests and sleeps, a gallery of passages, hunting grounds and pantries. Mole hunting is hard physical labor, relentless digging of the earth in search of food.

The mole does not recognize anything but meat and eats a lot of it every day - as much as he weighs. He eats everything he meets during the tunneling - insects, their larvae, beetles, bears. But the main food is earthworms. He eats them with preliminary processing - he grabs them with his teeth and stretches them through the clawed comb of the front paw, cleaning the surface of the prey.

Hunting goes on day and night. Twenty-four hours of the day are divided at the mole only for the time of hunting and rest. He should eat every four hours. Twelve hours without food is the limit, meaning death. For this reason, moles do not hibernate for the winter, since in winter they find enough food underground.

However, there is less prey in winter, so since autumn, animals have been intensively stockpiling. Around the "bedroom" he has warehouses everywhere. To prevent the prey from spreading, the mole disfigures it, leaving, however, alive.

Occasionally, coming to the surface of the earth, a mole can catch a field mouse, a lizard, a frog, and steal a chick from the nest. In search of prey, very fine hearing, smell and touch replace poor eyesight for the mole.

The animal not only eats a lot, but also drinks a lot. One of the tunnels of its labyrinths certainly leads to a river, a pond, at least to a puddle. If there are none, the mole digs deep vertical shafts-wells. Water often floods during rains, but the underground dweller swims well.

The mole is not a accommodating, grumpy, quarrelsome, bloodthirsty creature. He doesn't have friends. He lives as a hermit and does not tolerate anyone in his possessions, especially relatives. He meets the enemy in battle.

Without the caresses inherent in many animals, moles form a gloomy family union and give birth to four or five completely helpless, naked, blind moles. The mole feeds them with her milk.

In nature, the mole has many enemies: foxes, martens, hedgehogs, owls, storks, crows and other predators. Due to the fact that their gray velvety skins turned out to be fragile for fur coats and hats, a person was not included in the list of enemies of the mole.

Moles not only harm farmland, but also bring certain benefits: they destroy the bear, the larvae of the May beetles, slugs.

Valentina Lisitsina. Epoch Times

Underground fauna is no less diverse than at the top. Underground mole is another living creature among the thousands of underground inhabitants.

Mole - underground dweller

If you notice a low mound of loose earth in a field or garden, you can be sure that a mole lives under it. All his life passes underground, only in the most rare cases rises to its surface. This mammal inhabits large areas of North America and Eurasia.

How the mole adapted to life underground

Wise nature made sure that the mole was comfortable living underground. The torso is oval, dense, the head is connected to it by a thick neck, the muzzle with a wide forehead is elongated by a narrow stigma - all this helps the mole to move easily and freely underground.

The animal does not have eyes as such, only small holes, half-covered with hair. There are underground moles, in which they are generally densely overgrown. And the underground dweller does not need sight. But their hearing is well developed, despite the absence of auricles - only special leathery folds protect the ear holes from getting into the ground.

Mole - the greatest tunnel digger

The front paws of the mole are very similar to small shovels. With them, he deftly and quickly rakes the ground and digs passages. At the same time, five well-developed fingers in the hand also help in the digging process.

And even wool - and that assistant to the mole underground. Beautiful, shiny, brown or black tones, the coat consists of straight growing hairs. As a result, when moving through underground passages, they lie in the right direction and do not interfere with his movement.

Mole life underground

Around the clock, the mole is underground and almost all the time in motion - digging tunnels. It usually settles in those places where the soil is moist and easy to dig. These are forest edges, meadow and floodplain lowlands. They are engaged in these works for a reason, but they are looking for food, which is why the moves are called fodder.

They are not deep, only 5-10 cm underground, but the permanent passages are at a depth of 15-20 cm. He does not have enough strength to raise such a thickness with his head, he has to push out part of the earth after a short distance. It turns out the so-called retraction. It is easy to see where it appears: suddenly the soil begins to move slightly, then the loose part rises and increases before our eyes, becoming a mound.

Favorite food are earthworms. They even store them for the winter in their hole. And so that the worms do not run away, remain alive, but paralyzed, the moles bite off their heads. Both pupae and larvae, as well as adult insects, fall on the pointed teeth of a predator. And even a mouse or a shrew is too tough for him!

What does a mole eat?

Moles eat a lot, as they lose a lot of energy when digging. So it turns out a vicious circle: you want to eat - you have to dig the ground - while you dig - you want to eat again. Without food, only 12 hours can live at all, so you have to go hunting both at night and during the day.

Contrary to popular belief that the mole spoils root vegetables such as carrots and potatoes, the mole does not. Mouse-like rodents are crop eaters. Because he does not eat plant foods. And this opinion appeared due to the fact that when digging tunnels, the roots of plants are undermined, broken, and that's why they die.

Settling in gardens and orchards, moles, with their underground passages and numerous mounds, violate the integral cover of the soil. If it is a lawn, it will be difficult to pass through it with a lawn mower, and the beauty of flower beds is spoiled by pitted earth.