although the mole lives so hidden, it is everyone familiar: The molehills let us suspected where it lives.
Shape If one then sets eyes on it once, so the gigantic grave-shovels certainly are the showiest at its 15 cm long body. The fingers of these front-extremities healed together and finished in shovel-shaped claws. The hands are rosy, and the whole remaining body is covered with a dense, velvety fur. Beside the known black form, one more rarely finds whitens, yellow, dawns or gescheckte clans.
The head of the mole is long-stretched and moved out to a real trunk in the front, with which it feels the way through its dark world and sniffs.
The hearing is especially well trained although no outer ear-mussels are to be found with it. The eyes are developed very small and weak on the other hand.
Way of life Under the earth, the mole lives in a widely ramified walk-system. The nest-chamber lies approximately one half meter in the dry terrain under the Erdoberfläche. On moist meadows, one finds however also so-called "swamp-castles." That is high Erdhaufen, in whose Innern the nest padded with foliage and grass lies, over half a meter.
Sandy areas, in which the walks would be added again and again, as well as the mole avoids rocky and far too stony ground completely. From the nest-chamber, different ventilation-walks branch off asteroid. Frequently, a particular run-walk leads to the away from situated hunt-precinct. It lies there where one finds molehills in larger number. Densely disappears the walks, in which the mole hunts earthworms, insect-larvae as well as snails, under the Erdoberfläche.
The mole can admittedly see badly, has an excellent disruption-sense, an especially good hearing and a fine sense of touch, however. it can localize penetrated loot-animals well also on further distance and soon, can track down and can overpower.
Some animals force their way into the mole-precinct also from the Erdoberfläche. So, also bigger animals like Blindschleichen, mice, toads and frogs are consumed by the mole.
Frequently, the mole finds grubs or other insect-larvae also already with its subversive activity under roots or walls. Especially young moles do also at the Erdoberfläche hunt for different loot-animals.
The mole is extremely gluttonous like all insectivores. Daily, it picks up so much food approximately as its own weight amounts. Males frequently weigh more than 100 grams on that occasion; Females can be over 30 gram easier. In order to have continuously food, the mole places supplies against earthworms occasionally, whom it paralyzed through one bite into the front end.
The mole doesn't hold any hibernation. Therefore, it must provide himself with food over daily the whole year; because after one until one and a half days without food already would have starved it.
Enemies Although the mole lives so hidden and is spurned because of its musk-smell of most robbers on the other hand, however, it has some enemies. Boar and badger dig it from its subterranean walks out while the buzzard beats it when piling up the mounds. There, where the stork however still occurs, it is the mole's biggest enemy. The long beak drives into the mound with the lowest movement like a spear, gets out the wriggling mole and still immediately devours it with alive body.
Reproduction In its subterranean hunt-precinct, the mole always lives as a loner. Only in the spring and early-summers, the sexes meet to the combination. The Tragzeit is not exactly known. Usually come to the world 4 or 5 nude kids after approximately 2 or 3 weeks.
The mother suckles its boys approximately 4-6 weeks. After approximately 3 weeks, they opened its eyes. The otherwise unsociable mole-mother umsorgt during the whole time its children very intensively. The rosy ones become with danger, carried anzusehenden mole-children of her extremely nastily for us into another nest-chamber.
Spread The spread-area of the mole extends from Western Europe to the Mongolia, in the north as far as to South-Sweden and Scotland and in the south as far as at the Mediterranean.
Protection The mole belongs to the especially protected types with us.
Scientific name: