Missouri’s Mole by Kelley Vaughan Uncovering the eastern mole’s dirty diggings Moles are one of the most abundant small mammals in Missouri, but most people know little about them. You don’t often see moles because they spend most of their lives underground. Usually you don’t know that moles have invaded your neighborhood until you hear your parents complaining about the strange ridges that are spoiling the lawn. The eastern mole, Scalopus aquatiens, is the only mole in Missouri. It lives throughout the state. The eastern mole is from 5.5 to 9 inches long and has soft, velvety fur that is thick and brownish or grayish with silver highlights. The mole’s fur lays flat in any direction, which allows it to move backward or forward through tunnels easily. Moles also have a wedge-shaped head and a narrow, pointed nose. They are built for digging. Those ridges your parents don’t like are actually the tops of tunnels or runways that moles have dug. Moles have strong little legs with paddlelike forefeet that are as wide as they are long, and large, long claws. They scoop out the earth using their forefeet as shovels that allow them to “swim” through the soil almost as easily as you or I swim through water. Moles can dig 100 to 150 feet in a single night at a rate of a foot per minute. Moles are considered almost blind. Their tiny eyes are hidden or covered with skin and fur and can detect light from dark, but that’s about all. Their ears are tiny, too, and also are covered with fur, but moles hear well. Moles are considered insectivores, which means they like to eat insects, worms and other small animals, such as snail larvae and spiders. Yum! About 15 percent of their diet is plant matter. Moles dig their tunnels in search of food. Moles eat day and night and throughout the year. They rest or sleep for only a few hours each day. They might die if they have to go without food for as little as 12 hours. They need a lot of food, too. Moles can eat over half their body weight daily! That would be like you or me eating more than 50 hamburgers in a day. Some mole tunnels are used as travel lanes and are used only once or just a few times. Deeper, permanent tunnels and nest cavities may bring mounds of soil called mole hills to the surface. The moles use these deeper tunnels in winter and during the hot times of the summer. These also are used as living quarters and as nurseries. Baby moles are born in litters of two to five young during March, April or May. The babies are born hairless and helpless, but grow rapidly. After only four weeks the moles leave the nest. Except for mating and when females raise young, moles live solitary lives. They usually live three to four years. Except when they tunnel through lawns, gardens, parks or golf courses, moles are not destructive. They actually do a lot of good for soil aeration and plant growth. Their tunneling mixes the surface soil and deeper soil, making more nutrients available to plant roots. Moles also eliminate large amounts of grubs that can destroy lawns. Much of the plant damage attributed to moles may actually be due to other animals such as mice, shrews and meadow voles, all of which use mole tunnels. Moles eat little vegetation, and only rarely will they munch on flower bulbs and seeds. Mole tunneling does expose grass and plant roots to air, which dries them out and may kill vegetation or turn it brown. The upraised ridges of soil that moles make also can interfere with lawn mowing. That’s why every year when the warm weather arrives, many people try to rid their lawns of moles. People try all kinds of ways to get rid of moles. They trap them, try to repel them with bad tasting or bad smelling stuff and try to kill them with poisons. One method is to apply insecticides to lawns to kill the insects that moles need to eat, forcing moles to move elsewhere to find food. Some of these mole reduction methods can be dangerous to other animals and harmful to the environment. Insecticides, for example, also eliminate beneficial soil organisms. And birds and other wildlife could die from eating poisoned dead or dying insects. Trapping is the best way to eliminate moles from your yard if they become a problem. But moles don’t go easily. They seem to have a natural shrewdness that allows them to avoid danger. Not only are they a challenge to trap, but other moles often move into areas that are vacant. If you can tolerate their tunneling, it’s better to leave moles alone. They consume lots of insects, aerate the soil and are an important part of our backyard wildlife. Moles lead mostly solitary lives, but they communicate with their neighbors with high-pitched squeals, squeaks and snorts. A mole’s short tail is thick and scantily furred. It functions as an organ of touch, like a curb feeler on a car, and helps guide the mole when it moves backwards in its tunnel. A mole turns around in its tunnel by slowly performing a partial somersault or doubling back on itself. Minus/Plus Like moles, other animals are considered pests, but they often have useful benefits, too: Honey bees frighten a lot of people, but without them it would not be possible to enjoy the fruits and vegetables that honey bees pollinate. Spiders get squashed by anyone who sees them, but they consume huge numbers of bothersome insects, such as flies and mosquitoes, and are a food source for birds and other animals. Most spiders are not dangerous to people. Snakes in Missouri are often killed just because people are afraid of them. But snakes are shy and prefer to avoid people. Of Missouri’s 50 different kinds of snakes, only five are venomous. Snakes help control rodents and are a food source for other wildlife.

Click to Enlarge Moles lead mostly solitary lives, but they communicative with their neighbors with high-pitched squeals, squeaks and snorts.     Click to Enlarge       Click to Enlarge       Click to Enlarge A mole's short tail is thick and scantily furred. It functions as an organ of touch, like a curb feeler on a car, and helps guide the mole when it moves backwards in its tunnel. A mole turns around in its tunnel by slowly performing a partial somersault or doubling back on itself.       Click to Enlarge