Class:Mammalia
Order:Erinaceomorpha
Family:Talpidae
The European mole (Talpa europaea, Linnaeus, 1758) is a soricomorph mammal belonging to the Talpidae family. It has the widest range of all species of the genus: it is found in most of Europe, from Great Britain and southern Sweden, extending south to the northern part of the Iberian, Italian and Balkan peninsulas. It is also widespread in Asia, from the Caucasus to Altai, and in Mongolia.
In Italy, it is found from the Alps to the Marche, Abruzzo, Umbria and Tuscany regions. In central Italy, its range overlaps slightly with that of the Roman mole, which is slightly larger.
It is 14–16 cm long, excluding the tail, which measures 2.5–3.3 cm. It weighs between 60 and 120 g and its shoulder height is 4–5 cm. Its fur is fine and velvety, uniformly coloured, mainly black, sometimes with brownish, grey or bluish highlights; its ears are invisible and have no auricles; the tip of its nose is flesh-coloured. The front legs are very developed, broad, massive and equipped with short, very strong claws. Its morphology is particularly suited to underground life and digging: well-protected eyes and ears, a very pointed snout and legs specialised for digging. The softness of its fur may also be an adaptation to life in tunnels, making it easier to move backwards.
It does not have good eyesight but has a highly developed sense of smell and hearing. Its sense of touch is also highly developed: its snout, front paws and tail are equipped with sensitive whiskers, while the tip of its snout is rich in Eimer’s organs, small sensory organelles derived from the epidermis.
Habits and Diet
It is a solitary animal that spends most of its time in a complex system of underground tunnels, some deeper, located 15–25 cm below the surface, used as permanent shelters, and others more superficial, almost at ground level, which they use as hunting grounds and which can cover an area of 600–900 m². It feeds on invertebrates that inhabit the subsoil: earthworms (80% of its diet), larvae and insects, snails, etc.
It sleeps only 2–3 hours at a time but dozes frequently throughout the day. It does not hibernate.
Social behaviour and relations with humans
Reproduction occurs once a year and, after a gestation period of about 4 weeks, results in the birth of 4-6 young, which are suckled for about 6 weeks.
The average life expectancy of a European mole is 4-6 years.
It is rarely sighted as it rarely ventures onto the surface, but traces of it can be found in meadows and cultivated fields, where it is an unwelcome guest due to the damage it can cause to agricultural economies. Fortunately, there are humane methods of repelling them, such as the use of ultrasound or the installation of sticks with objects on top that produce noise in the wind, so that the mole, disturbed by the sound, decides to change its dwelling place. On the other hand, the intensive use of insecticides and chemicals in agriculture can pose a threat to moles: due to their diet based mainly on underground invertebrates, they are at risk of poisoning.
