They love to settle down in such rich hunting grounds. In the pliable soil of the garden, it often does not throw out the excavated soil into surface piles, but presses it, presses it into the walls of the passage. As a result, the arrival of a new tenant on the territory is difficult to notice with the naked eye.
Meet the underground dweller
The animal is perfectly adapted to underground way of living.
A velvet coat with short, but thick and soft fur protects the sides of the mole from contact with compacted walls. The animal's nimble small body and its shovel-shaped front legs, combined with a proboscis nose, make it possible to move quickly under the surface. The front five-toed paws are equipped with a false bony sixth finger-scapula, as well as long and sharp claws, which are directly involved in digging tunnels.
Shovel palms face the back of the hand inward and the palms outward. The head, large in relation to the body, sits on a muscular neck. The head and neck of an underground dweller are his main driving force. A succinct description of the common mole - a kind of living earth drill. 
The mole does not have ears; the auditory openings are covered with skin to prevent dirt and debris from entering them. The animal's eyes are small and blind in appearance. Despite the absence of ears, the underground dweller has excellent hearing. Combined with a sensitive sense of smell and a well-developed sense of touch, this allows him to be a good hunter. Because of the shape of its teeth, the animal is sometimes jokingly called an “underground crocodile” - they are very sharp and cone-shaped.
Digging more and more tunnels, the worker spends a lot of energy, so he constantly has to feed the body. The amount of food he eats at one time reaches 30 grams. Considering that the mole eats several times a day, the weight of the food it absorbs sometimes exceeds the weight of the hunter himself. The animal not only eats a lot, but also drinks a lot. Therefore, without fail, one of its passage-tunnels leads to a source of moisture (a stream, a puddle that does not dry up, a leaking street water tap).
Important! The animal does not stop hunting for food even in winter. The search for worms in winter is made easier by the fact that, attracted by the warmer air of the tunnels and the musky smell of the burrow inhabitant, the worms themselves crawl into the underground passages.
Scheme of underground passages
The system of underground mole labyrinths consists of two types of passages:
- Feeding tunnels - such passages are located close to the ground surface (3-5 cm) and are used to collect worms and large and small insects. The mole continuously runs through the feeding tunnels and collects crops.
- Permanent tunnels are located much deeper, at a depth of 15-20 cm deep.
When animals dig new tunnels, a mass of freshly dug material is formed, which simply has nowhere to go in the cramped earthen burrow. Therefore, in the process of digging, the animal pushes new soil to the surface with its head. It is difficult for an observer to notice what is happening underground, and only one that begins to move can report that a mole is working under it. At first, there is a barely noticeable movement of the earth, but with each new portion of arriving soil, the mound of wet earth becomes higher. 
During the day, a tireless worker digs up to 20 meters of new tunnels in our gardens. Any branch passage begins from a wide main passage, which leads to an underground nest. Collecting caught prey and hunting for new prey continues around the clock. What the hunter does not eat, he saves for future use; for this purpose, near the main nesting chamber there is a nook where supplies are stored.
The nesting chamber itself is made very well, with hard, non-crumbling walls and a bottom covered with soft and dry grass. It is surrounded by two circular tunnels that connect to each other and to the nest. Usually a mole does not locate its shelter in an open space, but tries to hide it deeply under the roots of a tree or bush. This underground house serves him both as a shelter from enemies and as a place to relax and raise his children. 
The female underground hunter gives birth to three to eight cubs. The cubs do not feed on mother's milk for long; 30 days after birth, they begin to independently get out of the mother's nest and hunt in old tunnels built by their parents to get food. 50-60 days after birth, animals reach the size of their parents and soon go into independent life.
Did you know? The speed of movement of the mole through the labyrinth of underground passages reaches more than 50 meters per minute. He is capable of changing the direction of movement to the absolutely opposite one while running, without losing speed. An assistant in such high-speed running is its fur, which freely fits in the direction opposite to the direction of running.
What do moles eat?
There is an opinion that moles are vegetarians and feed on cultivated roots in the garden or on. This is fundamentally wrong, moles are predatory animals. The menu of underground hunters consists of large and small insects, worms. 
This animal is small, but with very well-developed muscles, strengthened by constant heavy excavation work, so it can successfully attack a frog, or one caught in an underground tunnel. Not only to attack, but also to win this battle, and dine on an unexpected visitor. Rapid metabolism in the animal's body requires constant replenishment of vitality with calories, and the mole is forced to live in order to eat. His whole life is a constant hunt for food.
What do moles eat at their summer cottage:
- caught;
- frogs and toads;
- butterfly larvae and;
- large and small mole crickets;
In the forest, you can rarely see mounds of mole holes; there, an obstacle to the normal underground movement of the animal arises in the form of often intertwined adult tree roots. Some species of moles can hunt on the surface, but this is rather an exception. Moles in the forest feed on what they can get while hunting: very small animals, amphibians and insects. 
Moles in the garden
Benefit
I would like to say a few words in defense of the underground worker: it doesn't spoil the harvest or, as mole crickets do or.
An underground resident who has settled in the garden regulates the number of harmful insects, reducing them to a minimum number. It loosens the soil, so that through its burrows water and air flow into the plant roots. The hunter catches and thins out a mouse colony living at the dacha, which destroys the flower bulbs and eats up the potatoes in the beds. 
Still, one mole settling in the garden will cause less damage to the plantings than multiplying mole crickets. If gardeners saw what a mole was eating underground, they would thank the animal for a long time. After all, neither poisons nor traps can cope with the damned mole crickets, and from one nest in two months almost a thousand new mole crickets will hatch and spread throughout the garden. If you don’t fight this scourge in any way, you will soon have to abandon your garden, since it will be impossible to wait for the harvest.
Did you know? The mole has valuable fur; fur coats and hats are made from it. Animals molt twice a year, after the autumn molt their fur becomes smooth, velvety, shiny and the hunting season opens for the mole. The underground hunter is very lucky in that his fur, although beautiful, is very short-lived. Therefore, the demand for its skins is small.
Harm
But even taking into account the fact that moles do not feed on the roots of cultivated plants, their appearance causes mechanical damage to plantings- plant roots fall into the open air, become exposed, wither and dry out.
The underground predator destroys many insects that harm gardens. But at the same time, the mole, when constructing its underground communications, damages the root system of large and small plants. A system of tunnels permeates the entire dacha area; when they are laid, an animal can dig a passage into a cellar or outdoor toilet. During the dry period of the year, this is not a big problem, but as soon as the autumn rains begin, water will flow into the cellar through such an underground passage and it will become unsuitable for further storage of supplies for the winter. 
And what moles eat in gardens can directly harm the plants planted there. After all, if there are no earthworms in it, it is dead soil and a good harvest cannot be grown on it. Worms loosen the garden soil; oxygen and moisture (dew, rainwater) penetrate into the soil through earthworm passages. While laying its underground roads, the burrowing animal literally throws out the plants planted in it from the soil (,). In the garden, where the mounds of molehills have appeared, everything around them is strewn with falling and drying plants.
When making their moves, the tireless worker produces mounds of soil on the surface of the lawn, which, having settled a little, harden and make it difficult to mow the grass on such a lawn. With its “improvements”, the harmful animal here and there makes its own adjustments to the landscape design of the dacha, pouring its mounds on gravel paths and alpine slides. 
Moles love to settle in places like summer cottages or farmstead of a rural house. Here the soil is much softer, lush and not as hard as in floodplain meadows. If an unwanted guest has settled in your yard, you need to set traps or traps. If you do not want to harm the worker, you can install a mole repellent device. The devices can be electronic (producing ultrasound that is unpleasant for the animal) or chemical, which are placed in the hole.
Chemical repellers drive the animal away from an occupied area. They have a pungent, unpleasant odor. The builder of underground passages will not go far - most likely, he will move his tunnels to a neighboring site.
Does it hibernate in winter?
Since the temperature underground is much higher than on the ground surface, the system of underground passages is quite warm and the animal feels comfortable. In winter, the mole eats the same thing as usual: there is enough food in the ground (sleeping bugs, worms, woodlice, larvae). During the cold season, the mole's activity subsides a little, and in between hunting for insects, the animal sleeps in its nesting area. Since the voracious mole cannot go without food for longer than 14-16 hours, he has to constantly hunt. But if the winter is harsh and the ground freezes more than half a meter, the insects wintering in it freeze and the mole dies without feeding. 
Who eats them
Despite the fact that moles live underground and are very difficult prey, they also have enemies in the animal world. They are hunted with pleasure foxes, raccoons and ordinary dogs. And even a yard cat will not miss a moving mound of earth and will try to catch its inhabitant. However, none of these animals eat moles and will not eat a caught mole, since this animal has a very strong musky odor. It serves as reliable protection - few predators are so indiscriminate.
However, in the animal world there is a predator that happily catches and eats unpleasant-smelling diggers. This nimble, agile enemy is a weasel. 
This curious underground animal often lives with us in the same yard. And even if we don’t notice it, with its existence and vital activity it brings both minor harm and considerable benefit to humans. Already, people have learned to coexist with their silent neighbors in the countryside. All living beings, large and small, have their place in this world.
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TO companies have long excited my imagination :) After all, they are so inconspicuous! It turns out that many scientific minds are still struggling with many mysteries of these animals. They are almost unstudied due to their secretive lifestyle. 1.
It turns out that moles not only hunt and immediately eat their favorite food - earthworms, but store them for a rainy day. Worms are stored in a mole closet for a very long time. And in winter, when food is scarce, the mole feasts in its underground labyrinths. Repeatedly when digging up mole tunnels, food reserves weighing more than 2 kg were discovered!
2.
Moles have absolutely amazingly developed hearing and sense of smell to the detriment of blind eyes. Thanks to some kind of sense, moles are able to return to their homes, even if they are moved to another place. Therefore, do not delude yourself that by catching a mole in your garden and throwing it to your hated neighbor, you will thus get rid of it. The moles are back! :)
3.
In 1 hour, with its shovel-shaped paws, a mole is able to dig a hole 3 m long. On average, the length of each mole’s hole is 200 meters.
4.
The fur coat of the animal is very interesting in structure - the hair on the mole's body does not grow in one direction, like most animals, but straight. This structure of the coat is very convenient when digging tunnels, because the fur does not ride up either when the mole breaks forward or when it is necessary to back away.
5.
The mole's speed through the tunnel he dug is 25 meters per minute. This is not in vain for the mole's fur - from contact with the walls of the hole, the fur coat wears off quite quickly :) and the mole walks naked. But nature has provided for this too: moles are forced to molt 3-4 times a year in order to acquire new hair again and again.
6.
Some intimate details: male moles have a bone in their reproductive organ...
7.
There is an opinion that the mole is completely blind. However, it is not. Its eyes are most often covered with a fold of skin to prevent soil from getting into them when digging. The ears are also well protected. Such a small-looking mole has as many as 44 teeth in its mouth! A predator by nature, a mole also has fangs!
8.
Moles can eat almost anything that moves. They can eat both a frog and a small animal that they can handle. Sometimes they even eat their weaker relatives.
9.
Due to the fact that the mole is a very active animal and spends a lot of energy, it needs to eat something almost constantly in order to have the strength to do digging work. He eats almost as much per day as he weighs. And without food it cannot live more than 14-17 hours.
10.
Moles are so unsuited to living in captivity that attempts by scientists and biologists to create suitable conditions for them and study them have not yet been successful. Or artificial burrows in a confined space become very damp, and the moles die. Or the always available food from the hands of scientists leads to the death of moles from obesity and daily inactivity...
The fauna underground is no less diverse than at the top. The 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. His entire life passes underground, only in the rarest cases does he rise to the surface. This mammal inhabits large areas of North America and Eurasia.
How a mole adapted to life underground
Wise nature made sure that the mole could live comfortably underground. The body is oval-shaped, dense, the head is connected to it by a thick neck, the muzzle with a wide forehead is elongated with a narrow stigma - all this helps the mole to move easily and freely underground.
The animal has no eyes as such, only small holes, half-covered by fur. There are underground moles in which they are generally densely overgrown. And an underground dweller does not need vision. But their hearing is well developed, despite the absence of auricles - only special leathery folds protect the ear openings from soil.
The mole's front paws are very similar to small shovels. With them he deftly and quickly rake the ground and dig passages. At the same time, five well-developed fingers in the hand also help in the digging process.
And even wool is a helper for the mole underground. The beautiful, shiny, brown or black 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.
A mole's life underground
The mole is underground all day and night and is on the move almost all the time, digging tunnels. It usually settles in places where the soil is moist and easy to dig. These are forest edges, meadow and floodplain lowlands. They do this work for a reason; they are looking for food, which is why the passages are called feeding passages.
They are located shallow, only 5–10 cm underground, but the permanent passages are at a depth of 15–20 cm. He does not have enough strength to lift such a thickness with his head; he has to push out part of the earth after a short distance. It turns out to be a so-called otnorok. It’s easy to see where it will appear: suddenly the soil begins to move slightly, then the loose part rises and grows before our eyes, becoming a mound.
Favorite food is earthworms. They even store them for the winter in their burrow. And so that the worms do not escape and remain alive, but paralyzed, the moles bite off their heads. The pointed teeth of the predator catch both pupae and larvae, as well as adult insects. 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 to be a vicious circle: you want to eat - you have to dig the ground - while you are digging - you want to eat again. It can only live for 12 hours without food, so it has to go hunting both at night and during the day.
Contrary to popular belief that moles spoil root vegetables such as carrots and potatoes, moles do 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 and disturbed, and this is why they die.
Settling in gardens and orchards, moles, with their underground passages and numerous mounds, disturb the integrity of the soil. If it is a lawn, it will be difficult to walk through it with a lawn mower, and the beauty of flower beds can be spoiled by dug-up soil.
Benefits of moles
But with all this, moles also bring enormous benefits by eating large quantities of harmful insects, for example, the larvae of the cockchafer. The soil loosened by the mole becomes light, airy and produces large yields. People also use beautiful mole fur, which becomes especially lush and warm after October.
Many people only know about the small animals living in the village from cartoons. We are talking about moles. Not many have seen them in the natural environment. And when they noticed it and examined it, they got scared. Their forelimbs look so bright. And, of course, not every person can tell how deep a mole’s hole is. For non-specialists, this interesting topic often remains a “closed secret.” But in fact it is quite educational. Not only biologists, but also people of other specialties study this topic in detail, keeping in mind its practical application. Let's not lag behind either. It might come in handy!
What is a wormhole
Let's start with the fact that this animal does not really like to look out into the white light (if you can say that about it). The fact is that the mole is blind due to his lifestyle. Its habitat is the upper layers of the soil. There he feels quite comfortable and cozy. Before asking how deep the mole's hole is, you need to find out why he needs it. After all, such a “structure” depends on goal setting. Nature does not like empty movements. In any case, the wormhole proves precisely this principle. The animal devotes almost all its time to its work on “underground construction”. He debugs and improves it. A wormhole is a whole system of corridors and rooms, each of which is created for its own purpose. There are passages, a latrine, a nest, and a warehouse. Of course, all terms should be placed in quotation marks. However, they carry a practical load very similar to that which we put into the corresponding names. For example, a latrine is used by an animal as a “toilet room.” Moreover, in other places the animal does not fulfill this natural need.
Why does a mole build a hole?
Let's immediately determine that there are many animals with this name. We're talking about everyone for now. They, of course, have their own characteristics. Only in this part of the article will we talk about a certain “middle mole”. Let's consider the functions of his home. There he spends almost his entire life. Note that the depth of a mole's hole is determined by the tasks for which it is dug. In general, it consists of several floors. The first lies ten to twenty-five centimeters from the soil surface. This floor consists of a system of passages. The animal needs them to look for food. After all, it is precisely “hiding” in this layer of soil. The mole descends below for other purposes. He creates the second (in depth) floor in order to breed offspring and preserve his reserves. This is described quite well in a famous fairy tale. The mole's hole, as shown there, is its warehouse, home, place for hunting, harvesting and... promenade.
Like a mole digs the ground
Engineers, as well as biologists, were interested in how a small animal manages to build such a complex structure. It should be noted that the depth of the mole hole sometimes reaches four meters. For comparison, its dimensions are about twenty centimeters. Do you feel the difference? Its structure can be compared to our high-rise buildings or mines. The animal uses almost all parts of its body for construction. It is equipped with naturally powerful front paws with claws. They are what frighten casual witnesses of his rare appearance on the surface. The animal uses them to scrape away layers of soil. They just need to go somewhere. In order to remove excess “building material”, the animal makes molehills. These are small exits to the surface through which it pushes soil. This is done with the head. When the corridor becomes too long, the animal clogs up the used hole and digs a new one. And a person sees piles of earth on the surface - the results of the mole’s work. You just can't find the entrance there. The animal hides it cunningly enough so as not to be in danger, and to save its offspring.
What does a mole eat?
It is clear that with such a specific lifestyle, the animal must have a special diet. And they eat everything they meet along the way. These are mainly plant parts. Roots, tubers, acorns - all this ends up in their stomachs (and not only). Researchers of this interesting animal say that its reserves can be impressive. For example, the mole rat makes several storerooms in which up to twenty kilograms of food can be found. Agree, one can envy the animal’s hard work. In addition, this factor explains to what depth the mole digs. Stocks are being made for the winter. Therefore, they should not “disappear”, in particular from the cold. This means that in those areas where there is more frost, the animal hides deeper and vice versa.
Mole and vegetable garden
Burrow length
People, considering the performance achieved by this small builder, focus on the depth of the structure. But there is a more interesting factor that may capture the imagination. Agree, many people can bury themselves four meters into the ground in a straight line. But building tunnels whose length is many times greater than your size is a huge job. So, this figure can reach up to three hundred and sixty meters (for a mole rat). And it is still unknown whether this is a record. The fact is that many species of moles have not been thoroughly studied. Science knows only general information about them. No one measured the length and depth of their holes. These include, for example, shrews. They are much smaller than moles. They can live unnoticed “under your nose” (in your garden). By the way, shrews are considered useful. They loosen the soil and eat pests.
Interesting facts about wormholes and more
Let's start not with the house, but with the “appearance”. Scientists have found that the animal has an unusual coat. Its fur grows straight. This is designed so that it does not interfere with his ability to change the direction of movement in narrow passages. The wool lays quite calmly both forward and backward. But, due to constant friction, the fur coat quickly deteriorates. The mole might just be bald. Nature arranges it in such a way that it sheds up to four times a year. It is very difficult for predators to hunt underground inhabitants. It is known that they are able to run along their passages at a speed of more than twenty-five kilometers per minute! Agree, it's very fast. By the way, such high-speed movement also has a negative effect on the fur coat. The mole builds storage rooms on several floors. Researchers found caves with both roots and worms. They were folded separately. The animal does not mix different types of food in one room.
Science and moles
Science fiction fans know that the unusual animal was noticed by physicists. Those, in the course of studying the multidimensionality of our world, came to certain conclusions. It turns out that space is nonlinear. It can curl up. And its parts are connected by passages reminiscent of mole holes. It has not yet been possible to take a photo of such a phenomenon. And it’s difficult to prove its existence. So far, only science fiction writers and some advanced scientists operating on the edge of the official system use the concept of “wormholes.” And it came to the researchers’ minds precisely in view of the secrecy of the lifestyle of this animal. He keeps his secrets from curious people, sometimes not very deeply, and sometimes far from them. Try, find his home!
Shrew or mole how to determine
Hi all! Sometimes neighbors come to me with such strange questions that it seems as if they haven’t lived on their plots for ten years.
Last spring, a neighbor complained that after the winter there were a lot of small earthen slides all over the property.
She couldn’t understand whether moles were causing her this inconvenience or other inhabitants of the underworld. Want to know how to tell if a shrew or a mole is digging holes? What actions can be taken to prevent their activities? I will describe everything in detail in the article below.
Moles, mole rats and shrews. Similarities and differences between rodents
Information about these underground inhabitants is often contradictory, since their way of life is not fully understood and has many blank spots.
The most incredible rumors and “heartbreaking” stories are being spread about the benefits and harms of these funny animals, especially among summer residents, more like fiction and fantasies, since shrews and moles are blamed for all imaginable and unimaginable misadventures of gardeners, blaming almost all of the poor animals “ dogs."
So, how to distinguish a mole from a shrew, what is the difference between them and in fact, these little animals are so dangerous and harmful. Let's figure it out.
Few people have seen this animal in person, since it lives underground. The shrew looks like a mouse, but has a more elongated muzzle with an elongated proboscis. Her fur is soft, fluffy, velvety, gray in color. The ears on the head are practically absent, and the eyes are very small and blind.
The shrew reaches eighteen to twenty centimeters in length and has a very long tail. The baby's weight is no more than fifteen grams.
Predatory animals such as foxes, dogs and domestic cats sometimes catch and strangle shrews, mistaking them for mice, but do not eat them, because thanks to the musk gland, the animal emits a strong unpleasant odor, which discourages its pursuers from any appetite.
Only some species of birds of prey do not have an aversion to shrews, such as owls and small wild animals like ferrets and weasels, for which the unpleasant spirit emanating from the animal is not a hindrance.
Like all of its close relatives, such as hedgehogs and moles, the shrew belongs to the order of insectivores and, like most rodents, lives in burrows, feeding mainly on animal food. Scouring the ground in search of food and using passages left by mice and other rodents, shrews devour insects, worms, larvae, and other small animals.
Since the shrew has a powerful metabolism and cannot go without food for a long time (no more than seven to nine hours at a time), it has to constantly get food and eat more food during the day than it weighs.
The most common are the two types of shrews:
- Shrews (lat. Crocidura)
- Shrews (lat. Sorex)
As the names of the animals suggest, some have white tips of their teeth, while others have brown tips. In addition, shrews are usually much smaller in size.
Since the shrew is a predator, it is beneficial by destroying the larvae of harmful insects living underground. In addition, these animals excellently loosen the soil, saturating it with oxygen and thus aerating the soil.
The mole (lat. Talpa europaea) is a close relative of the shrew. It has powerful front paws, well adapted for digging the ground, a muzzle with a maneuverable trunk and a short tail. The animal reaches twenty centimeters in length.
Like the shrew, the mole is an underground dweller, building an intricate system of passages, and appears on the surface only in an emergency. The mole throws out all the excess earth that is formed during the construction of passages. These earth piles in the form of small tubercles are popularly called molehills and are a clear sign that a mole has settled in this area.
It should be noted that the mole does not inhabit vegetable gardens and personal plots, but can live in the garden if the soil is sufficiently moist.
Like the shrew, the mole is a predatory animal, consuming large quantities of earthworms and earthworms, actively feeding on the larvae of beetles, butterflies, beetles and other harmful insects, thereby bringing invaluable help to gardeners and summer residents.
Well, finally, we have reached the true pest, since it is the mole rat that is the threat of vegetable gardens and summer cottages, rampaging and causing outrage to the fullest.
For mole rats, the animal food that its relatives feed on is strictly contraindicated.
Like all of the above-mentioned “relatives” of the mole rat, he diligently digs passages and holes and leads an exclusively underground lifestyle, leaving the shelter only once in his life - at the moment when, as a teenager, he leaves his father’s house to begin an independent adult life.
Like a mole, a mole rat can be detected on a site by the mounds formed on the surface, reminiscent of small earthen slides.
In addition to the common mole rat, there are several more species of this rodent: “sandy”, “Pontic”, “Bukovinsky” and “Podolsky”, and all these species (with the exception of the common one) are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.
It is noteworthy that the habitat of the common mole rat is limited only to the left bank of Ukraine, since, apparently, the Dnieper River is an insurmountable barrier for the animal.
The mole rat, unlike its fellows, is a herbivore and feeds on underground parts of plants. In wild natural conditions, the pest consumes mainly bulbous crops, acorns and eats up seedlings of oaks, maples, and other deciduous trees, and when it gets into the garden, it becomes a real disaster, since it destroys root crops, bulbs and tubers of cultivated plants.
As mentioned above, this type of rodent, due to its secretive habitat, is still poorly studied and keeps many secrets.
In appearance, the mole rat has a rather blocky body, resembling a voluminous cylinder up to twenty-five centimeters in length. The rodent's head has a flattened shape. The main digging tool of the mole rat is the huge sharp incisors sticking out. In place of the eyes there is a wide fold of skin, completely covered with bristles. The animal's skin is yellowish-brown in color.
Attention!
It is noteworthy that the organs of touch in the mole rat are individual hard hairs protruding from the fur, thanks to the sensitivity of which the animal receives information from the outside.
An interesting fact is that the fleas living on the animal have also been successfully assimilated and, like their owner, are completely blind.
It is a well-known fact that the mole rat creates a significant supply of food, storing it for the long winter period. For example, eighteen (!) kilograms of potatoes were found in the pantry of one prudent and hardworking animal.
However, scientists have determined that the daily rate of consumption of plant food for a mole rat is equal to its own weight (which is about half a kilogram of weight), that is, with such a rate of consumption of these products, there is clearly not enough for the whole winter. It is possible that during the dry winter period the animal falls into a state of suspended animation, which is why the metabolic process slows down, and the mole rat feeds only from time to time.
The main habitat of the mole rat is located at approximately a depth of ten to twenty-five centimeters and the burrows, as a rule, are located in the soil layer in two tiers.
In the upper tier the animal feeds (since its main food supply is located at this depth), and in the lower tier the mole rat builds nests, creates its own pantries and establishes latrines. It is noteworthy that the lower “floors” can go to a depth of up to four (!) meters, but generally do not exceed eighty centimeters.
While building its tunnels, the animal loses a lot of energy, so it has adapted to overcome obstacles and heavy areas of the ground, using the technique of creating small earthquakes, for which it makes head blows and then evaluates the reflection of seismic waves.
This method allows the mole rat to break through burrows with less labor, since it was calculated that the total length of the burrows of one animal can reach three hundred and sixty (!) meters in length.
The method of tapping the head on the ceiling allows individuals of different sexes to communicate with each other during the mating season.
The mole rat is essentially a hermit, but in March it begins to look for a mate, and already in April, offspring appear in the newly-minted family, consisting of two or more (up to six) cubs, which the mother feeds with milk.
Pest control methods
Pest control methods can be divided into two main groups:
- Deterrent measures
- Exterminatory measures
It has long been noted that moles and mole rats do not like the strong odors of some plants, and in particular they do not accept the pungent scent of mint and wormwood. The imperial hazel grouse also repels these rodents well, the bulb of which emits a strong smell that repels the animals.
Practice has proven that if several rows of parsnips are planted in a rodent's habitat (you need to find a plant variety that has a long root), the mole rat will leave this area. Black elderberry and medicinal black root repel pests well.
There are also different types of repellers that make sounds and produce vibrations. For this purpose, on a personal plot, it is necessary to drive wooden stakes into the ground, into which a regular impeller is inserted on top.
When the wind blows, the impeller rotates and creates a hum and vibration, which mole rats clearly do not like. For the same purpose, specially cut tin cans of beer or cola can be placed on wooden pegs, which, when rotated, create a similar effect.
Some gardeners and gardeners bury a metal mesh (chain-link) around the perimeter of the site and thus protect themselves from uninvited guests. The only difficulty is that you have to bury the net quite deeply (up to a meter deep), taking into account the depth of possible holes in the lower tier.
But the most effective method of pest control is its physical extermination. For this purpose, either chemical or mechanical means are used.
The chemical method of control is the simplest, but it is fraught with serious consequences, since domestic animals and even people can suffer from the strongest poisons, which belong to the group of phosphites (the poison has a negative effect on all warm-blooded organisms).
Therefore, before using chemistry, it is necessary to try methods that are safer and less harmful to the environment, because the use of poisons can ultimately result in tragedy.
The mole rat, as a rule, leads a hidden and solitary lifestyle, therefore, having driven or exterminated the animal from the site, you can finally take a deep breath.
source: http://agrostory.com/info-centre/knowledge-lab/kroty-slep/
Moles (mole rats), shrews, mole control in the country, traps
Mole rats, shrews and moles live in large numbers in summer cottages. However, not all of them are harmful and we must fight them; we will also get acquainted with useful “underground inhabitants”.
Shrews
It is very rare to meet them and examine them - they do not like to show themselves, although they are active around the clock. Unless you go out into the yard early in the morning, and on the grass are the fruits of a tireless cat’s night hunt. Take a close look at the animal.
He doesn’t look like a mouse at all, his muzzle is elongated into a proboscis, his ears are almost invisible, his eyes are tiny, his fur is velvety. But the cat didn’t eat the animal because it smelled very bad, which was due to the musk gland, which is present in many species.
Meet the shrew, the closest relative of everyone's favorite hedgehog. Shrews, hedgehogs, and moles all belong to the order Insectivores (Sorisiformes). Just like rodents, they live in burrows, although they prefer to use passages left by rodents. The basis of their diet is animal food.
With the tirelessness of the eternally hungry, shrews search for insects, earthworms, and often attack small rodents. They have a very intense metabolism, they can live without food for only 7-9 hours, so they have to eat more food per day than they weigh and search for it around the clock. Shrews (Sorex) and shrews (Crocidura) live in our area.
In addition to other differences, the tips of the teeth of shrews are brown, while the teeth of shrews are white, the body length is 6-8 cm. These crumbs are of great benefit because they loosen and thereby saturate with oxygen (aerate) the soil, and also destroy the larvae of harmful insects .
Their close relative, the mole (Talpa europaea), has velvety black fur, powerful burrowing front paws, a short tail and the same muzzle with a movable proboscis, and its body length reaches 20 cm. The mole rat is often incorrectly called a mole.
The only thing they have in common with the mole rat is that, like the mole rat, the mole is an underground dweller and builds a complex system of underground passages, which it leaves only as a last resort. When passages have to be made deep and in dense soil, the excess earth is thrown out to the surface through temporary passages in the form of small piles, so-called molehills.
From these heaps one can understand that a mole lives here: molehills are smaller in size than mole rat emissions, and moles do not settle in vegetable gardens. But in the lowlands, in damp areas of the garden, it can settle.
Attention!
The benefits of a mole are the same as those of shrews, and although he is a big fan of earthworms, he also destroys in large quantities the larvae of click beetles, which we call “darts,” and the larvae of May beetles and other beetles. So not all the animals that dig holes on your property are pests!
The mole rat is similar to the mole only in its manner of throwing out soil when digging holes and its exclusively underground lifestyle. You can see him extremely rarely; he leaves his underground galleries once, leaving his native nest at a young age.
The appearance of the mole rat is very unusual, the body shape resembles a plump cylinder, the geometric perfection of which is not disturbed by either the ears or the tail, since they are underdeveloped. The large head of the mole rat is flattened in the shape of a wedge.
He is completely blind, in place of his eyes a thick fold of skin has formed, densely covered with bristly hair, even the fleas living on him are also blind. The body of the animal is covered with thick silky ocher-brown fur, in which there is no down and guard hairs that are familiar to us; Hard hairs protruding from the fur are organs of touch.
The mole rat's legs are short and weak; they do not take part in digging; the main digging tool is huge incisors sticking out. The lips are equipped with folds that close the mouth so that the earth does not get there during underground robots. The body length of the mole rat is 20-25 cm.
In addition to the common mole rat, there are four more species - the sand mole rat, the Pontic mole rat, the Bukovinian mole rat and the Podolsk mole rat. All of them, except the common mole rat, are listed in the Red Book.
Scientists studying these rodents note that the number of mole rats in the west and north is also declining. Let us also note that the common mole rat lives only in Left Bank Ukraine; the Dnieper is an insurmountable barrier for it.
What do they eat?
In the wild, mole rats feed on all kinds of green and underground parts of plants; on occasion, they eat sown acorns, seedlings and young seedlings of oak, maple and other deciduous trees; an important part of their diet consists of bulbous trees.
In a cultivated landscape, they are most numerous in crops of perennial grasses and vegetable gardens, where they subsist on root crops, bulbs, and tubers. The lifestyle of these animals is still poorly understood and still leaves many questions. For example, they are known to stock up for the winter.
At first glance, the mass of prepared food is impressive: 15-18 kg of potatoes in one pantry, in other pantries - up to 14 kg of tree roots and sprouted acorns.
But if in the warm season the animal eats a mass of food per day approximately equal to its body weight, and this is about 500 g, then it becomes clear that these reserves will not be enough for the whole winter; apparently, in the cold season their metabolism and food slows down. less is consumed.
Mole holes of mole rats
Mole rats have burrows in two tiers: a complex system of horizontal feeding passages is laid at a depth of 10-25 cm. It is in this soil layer that the underground organs of plants are located, which the animals feed on as they move.
From them, passages lead steeply down to the lower tier, where nesting chambers, storage chambers and latrines are located. The lower tier is located at a depth of 80 cm to almost 4 m. When digging holes through a temporarily constructed hole, the earth is pushed to the surface with the help of the head, forming a heap of impressive size.
When it becomes difficult to push out portions of the earth, the mole rat fills the hole with earth and at the end of the move makes a new one and throws out a new pile of earth. The total length of the passages of one mole rat reaches 275-360 m.
In late autumn, the second construction season begins, which is not visible to us living on the surface - mole rats expand and improve the passages and chambers of the lower tier, and the earth is not thrown to the surface, but clogs the upper feeding passages with it.
While making passages and looking for food, they lose a lot of energy; for this reason, mole rats, trying to get to the roots and overcoming obstacles in their path, use the technology of small earthquakes.
They behave underground like seismology specialists, hitting their heads on the ceilings of the corridors they have dug, creating micro-earthquakes and, assessing the strength of the reflection of seismological waves, digging tunnels that are convenient for them with less energy.
Parental worries
Continuing the topic of seismology, we will add that they communicate with each other by tapping their heads on the ceiling of the passage.
For most of the year, mole rats live as hermits; the dating period begins in early March, and already in early April, happy mothers feed milk from two to six cubs.
Just imagine - the beginning of spring, it is still cold and hungry, but not for the mole rat; apparently, the main food reserves have been saved for this time. Mole rats give birth to only one offspring per year, and they begin to reproduce at a very respectable age of two or three years, compare with mice and voles!
The importance of mole rats and moles and their digging activities
In places where there is a massive impact of mole rats, the thickness of the humus horizon increases as a result of digging, mixing plants with soil, sprinkling plant substrate, and enriching the soil with animal secretions.
Its lower boundary drops by 10-20 cm, the humus composition improves, that is, the soil formation process becomes more intense. In addition, the seeds of many plants germinate on earth emissions, which cannot germinate on undisturbed areas of the earth, and thus the species diversity of plants increases.
Not only for plants, but also for animals, the digging activity of mole rats is very useful - various rodents settle in the holes, and the passages are populated by predators: weasels, ferrets.
They are such extraordinary mole rats. But when they settle in the garden, they cause a lot of damage to our crops.
Methods of fighting moles
Methods for protecting garden plots from mole rats will be divided into repellent and exterminatory.
Deterrent measures. Among the repellent methods, the most popular are sound repellers and planting certain types of plants.
Attention!
The success of these methods depends on many components: the location of your site, the proximity of fields of perennial grasses, hay meadows to it, the composition and placement of the crops grown, whether there are abandoned vegetable gardens nearby, etc. It’s up to you to choose and check their effectiveness.
Fighting moles with folk remedies. Moles do not like the smell of mint and wormwood. Young trees of the most valuable varieties can be sprayed with mint oil. Plant imperial hazel grouse in your summer cottage. The bulbs of this plant emit a smell that repels rodents.
Near the holes you can place repellent plants of black root, branches and leaves of black elderberry. These measures help against all rodents. We can only add that the mole rat cannot tolerate the presence of parsnips. If you sow parsnips along the perimeter of the garden in 2-3 rows, namely the long-rooted varieties, the mole rat will leave this area.
Fighting moles with your own hands. There are many designs of homemade sound repellers. For example, wooden pegs are placed on the site, and a wind impeller is attached to them. The impeller is not nailed too tightly to the peg, so that at the slightest breath of wind it immediately begins to spin. This creates a hum in the ground, which mole rats really don’t like.
You can bury several champagne bottles upside down. It is necessary to bury it at an angle of 45°, with the neck protruding 2-3 cm above the surface.
It is advisable to bury the bottles taking into account the direction of the prevailing winds, so that the winds create noise in the bottles as often as possible. Empty metal beer cans are placed on wooden pegs; the effect is similar.
Collections of ornamental plants can be protected by planting bulbs, for example, in plastic bottles that have been previously punched with holes. You can also fence the flower garden with a metal mesh, which must be dug into the ground at least 80 cm, that is, it must be buried deeper than the feeding passages, taking into account the lower tier of the passages.
How to destroy moles. Still, the most effective method is mechanical extermination of rodents. I will not write in detail about chemical methods - I am a strong opponent of them. Since the chemicals approved for use belong to the phosphide group.
These substances are the strongest poison for all warm-blooded animals; they prevent the process of blood clotting. The use of such products in open ground can be tragic for many domestic, wild animals and even humans. I absolutely do not recommend using them!
There are several options among mechanical catching methods. If your site is located near a village, it is easier to contact its residents. As a rule, there will definitely be at least one experienced craftsman who deftly sets special traps. In addition, some summer residents are lucky - they have a tireless hunter cat or an adventurous hunting dog.
Many pets successfully catch mole rats in their areas. But if you don’t have a skillful neighbor and your pets have no desire to save the owner’s garden, you’ll have to get down to business.
So, we already know the design of a mole rat’s hole and therefore, armed with a trap and knowledge, we get down to business. First you need to find the latest release of earth, this means that the mole rat is digging somewhere nearby. By the way, a dog can help here, if you have one, it will immediately let you know whether or not it’s worth digging up what you think is a fresh mound.
Then, having thrown away a pile of earth, you should dig a hole in the hole (earth emissions form here) about 40 x 40 cm. Here you will find the main passage in which you need to clear both holes. The mole rat does not like drafts and after about 20 minutes it will block the passage from which it digs.
Well, having found the passage where the animal is digging, destroy the soil plug and, retreating about 5 cm in depth from the beginning of the passage, set a trap for the mole rat. He will return to the beginning of the move to close it and will inevitably fall into the set trap.
The mole rat is a territorial animal that leads a solitary lifestyle, therefore, having driven away or exterminated the animal on the site, you can live in peace for some time.
source: http://gardenx.ru/sad_i_ogorod/kroty_slepyshi_zemlerojki_borba_s.html
The smallest mammal on Earth
Since ancient times, farmland owners have had a bad relationship with the shrew. Previously, the epithets “dangerous”, “aggressive” and even “poisonous” were applicable to it. Over the years, people have managed to reconsider their attitude towards small animals and learn to benefit from their proximity to them.
What kind of animal?
The shrew is often identified with a mouse due to the external similarity of these far from closely related animals. After reconsidering their position in the animal kingdom, scientists assigned these individuals to the order Shrews; previously they were classified as insectivores. Mice are members of the rodent order and have little in common with insectivores.
Relatives of shrews are moles and hedgehogs. With more careful observation, one can discover similarities between these animals in their methods of movement, nutrition and lifestyle.
Shrews are one of the smallest ubiquitous animals. Some of them have the honorary title of being the smallest mammal on Earth.
The giant shrew is considered a giant among shrews, reaching a length of 12 cm. You can learn more about these animals in the article about the types of shrews.
Shrews are the most common subfamily of tiny underground insectivores, including many species: common (forest), dwarf, tiny, house, water, elephant. The article dedicated to common types of shrews, in addition to interesting information, contains many photographs of our little neighbors.
Appearance and structure
The shrew looks like a mouse: a small head with tiny eyes, a short neck, a body set low on thin legs, and a long tail. The size of the animal is also “mouse” - its length rarely exceeds 10 cm. The entire body of the shrew is covered with short, thick brown hair.
The fur of the animal is constantly lubricated with the secretion of special glands that produce a fat-like substance with a repulsive odor. This is another cunning acquisition for the defenseless shrew, protecting it from the attacks of formidable predators.
During evolution, shrews lost their acute vision. They navigate using their sense of smell, using their nose, located at the end of an elongated, pointed muzzle, as a compass-navigator. Widely spaced ears pressed to the head are necessary for the animal for echolocation.
The ends of the animal's sharp teeth are covered with strong protective brown enamel, which wears off towards the end of the shrew's life. It is not surprising, because the small animal spends most of its short life eating.
You can see what a shrew looks like in the photo below:
Nutrition
Shrews eat an incredible number of insect pests: beetles, mole crickets, caterpillars, wireworms, and woodlice that live underground. In a day, the animal can destroy hundreds of grams of insects, which is 4 times the weight of the little hard worker itself.
Attention!
By eating voracious pests, shrews bring undeniable benefits to owners of summer cottages and vegetable gardens. Moreover, the underground passages along which animal shrews move provide drainage for plant roots.
The animals are not distinguished by their foresight: they often steal their food reserves for the winter during the warm season. Unable to withstand prolonged winter hunger, they die. You can find out more interesting things in the section on the nutrition of amazing animals.
Reproduction
During its short life, the shrew leaves up to 6 litters. At one time, from 3 to 10 tiny blind babies are born.
Is the shrew a mammal or not? Without a doubt, the answer is yes, because... a caring mother carefully feeds her babies with milk, gradually transferring them to an adult diet.
How long do shrews live? The animals become completely independent by the end of the 3rd week, which is not surprising, because the maximum life expectancy of shrews is only 1.5 years.
Shrews have long ceased to be unknown and mysterious to humans, but debate about the benefits and harms of small insectivores still continues.