European Mole - description, habitat, lifestyle

The animal the mole - a subclass a beast, belongs to a mammal class. It also enters the squad of insectivores and earthworms. Scientists believe the European mole is one of the most fun and interesting animals. In educational literature, it is also known as ordinary.

Description

So, as most of life, almost 99%, the European mole is underground, it has large and strong front paws, remotely resembling shovels. The length of the body of an adult animal is approximately 13-17 centimeters, the tail can reach 5 centimeters and the weight varies from 65 to 123 grams. All moles have small eyes with narrow lye no more than 0.5 mm. Another feature of the animal is that it does not have an outer ear.

At a young age, the color of the animal is much lighter than that of an adult animal. Colors in nature are of several types:

• White, with scorched flowers.
• Kind of brown and gray.

The European mole is able to move its burrows backwards - this is due to the fact that there are tactile hairs on the mole's tail. Since the movement of this animal is quite active, the fur cover is often wiped off. The nose is rather peculiar, the nostrils are on the sides.

What eats?

The menu of the European mole is varied. It includes:

• the invertebrate family (most often earthworms);
• slugs;
• woodlice;
• different types of insects (caterpillars, beetles, bears);
• spiders;
• centipedes;
• mice;
• frogs.

Most importantly, the "food" was not fast moving.The rate of food allowance at a time can reach no more than 25 g of worms, for 24 hours - no more than 60-70 g of various foods. Unlike other mammals, an ordinary mole can live without food for a maximum of 18 hours, after it dies. For the winter period, the mole is stored all summer, most often it is paralyzed earthworms. Although hibernation is not characteristic of this animal, it receives much less food during this period than in summer.

What are the differences between male and female?

In nature, the female and male, except for normal sex, do not have any differences. Both in appearance and behavior in the environment are no different.

How does it behave in the environment?

A large part of the animal's life process is digging the ground. Thus, he moves in the direction he needs. The process itself looks like a mole is drilling a tunnel, and the ground is spreading its front paws.

It lives exclusively in soft soil, since the teeth of the animal are not strong enough to gnaw hard rocks with them. Other, smaller animals, which are often food for the mole, also often use dug animal tunnels.

In addition to land, the mole is able to swim, but it must be a small river or a lake. Extremely rarely appears on the surface of the earth, as it is too clumsy, and moves almost crawling, leaving behind a corresponding furrow with paw prints.

Throughout life, it breaks through a mass of mazes with a diameter of up to 6 cm. In appearance, such labyrinths resemble multi-tiered children's playgrounds. The depth of the structures is approximately 60 cm. The animal divides its labyrinths into two types:

Residential - which the beast uses as a kind of transition from a watering to aft passages.
Fodder - these are the so-called traps, where small mammals come across - animals that serve as a mole's diet. On average, such traps reach up to 5 cm in depth. Outside, they are very easy to see, the “cap” of such a trick is slightly raised;

The place that serves as a nest is the most protected, and is located underground at a depth of two meters. The animal tries to hide it under stones, stumps, roots in places that are very difficult to reach. Between the feed and residential passages are connected only by inclined special passages.

It is interesting! In one night, the animal is able to dig up a tunnel of 40 meters.

The habitat is visually very easy to detect, the mole throws excess earth to the surface. The beast is active all 12 months, does not fall into hibernation, like many other inhabitants of the forest. Royne tunnels below frozen ground. In case of severe frosts, the earth may freeze to a meter or more. Under such conditions, most often the mole dies from lack of food. In hot summer, drought occurs almost the same process.

Already an adult animal is very attached to its hole, and even if it is carried away far away, it will still return "home." A young animal can leave its native nest for its settlement about 2-3 km. The European mole doesn’t like neighbors, shows aggression. Sometimes it can even kill. Such an animal lives about 5-6 years.

How to multiply?

Reproduction in the European mole, like in many animals, begins in the spring, from about mid-March to early May. The duration of pregnancy in females is up to 42 days. An ordinary mole is born bald and blind, weighing no more than three grams. For one litter the female can lead from two to ten small moles. For 12 months, the female brings one litter, in very rare cases two.After one month, the animal reaches the size of almost an adult animal.

In the process of growing up, the animal becomes quarrelsome and aggressive towards its fellows. Approximately in one and a half - two months, the animal leaves its parental nesting places, and independently digs its own, in which there will be no “neighbors and roommates”.

Natural opponents

European moles both feed on animals smaller than themselves, and are food for large predators. But because of the peculiar smell, they remain alive; many predators refuse to hunt the common mole. The most common opponents in natural selection are:

• foxes;
• martens;
• caress;
• owl;
• buzzard.

Throughout life, the European mole suffers from piroplasmosis (transmitted from tick bites) and tularemia. Is the "dining room" for fleas, ticks, worms and other parasites.

Advantages and disadvantages

Cons of the mole:

1. Huge damage moles bring summer cottage gardeners. Since the gardens have a very soft soil and a large number of insects and other animals that are food for the mole, they are based in such places.By their explosions they destroy the root system of plants, after which it begins to dry and dies in a short period of time.
2. If the mole lives on the plot permanently, sooner or later the land loses all its fertile properties, and every year the harvest becomes smaller and poorer.
3. The European mole feeds on the earthworm, and in turn it brings great benefits to the fields and gardens.

Advantages of the appearance of the mole
Despite the large amount of damage that the animal does, there are some positive aspects. The animal eats harmful larvae, field mice.

Curious facts

1. The European mole has a very large population, therefore it is not protected as a species by law. Previously appreciated because of its fur, similar to velvet. The skin is very strong, and to the touch pleasant, was extracted earlier in large quantities. To date, people almost abandoned the production of such material.
2. Mole ordinary is very useful in natural selection, due to its diet, the soil is deprived of harmful insects, larvae, worms and at the same time enriched with organic substances.
3. Constant loosening favorably affects the condition of the soil.Improves the flow of moisture and oxygen in the underground areas.

In developed countries, the fight against animals is a humane way. For example, many use drugs with a pungent smell (popularly people resort to chopped onions, garlic or kerosene). They also use loud sounds, ultrasounds. Today released a large number of devices with ultrasonic repelling.

Video: European Mole (Talpa europaea)