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What do Moles Eat?
Moles are omnivores, meaning they will eat both animals and plant life. Worms and other small invertebrates are their favorite food and they will also eat plant leaves, berries, nuts and fruit. The saliva they produce is toxic and is designed to paralyze other animals. Moles are practically blind and rely on their powerful sense of smell to catch food. They tend not to eat their prey immediately and construct underground larders in which to store food. Larger moles have even been known to catch mice. The Star Nosed Mole can detect, catch and eat its prey in less than a second.
Where do Moles Live?
North America, South Africa, Asia and all of Europe, expect Ireland, all provide habitats for the 20 species of mole in the world. They are mainly nocturnal, although they will come out in daylight to catch food. As moles live in underground burrows, which they can dig at a rate of 18 feet per hour due to long sharp claws and powerful legs, they need areas where the bedrock is not to close to the surface and there is soft soil. Riverbanks are especially good habitats for them and some mole species are semi-aquatic, spending short amounts of time in the water.
How do Moles Reproduce?
Moles mate in early spring time and have a gestation period of around a month. Females will give birth to between two to six babies which are born with their eyes shut and without fur. Within a month the newborns will be completely independent. The male mole has nothing to do with raising the offspring. Male moles are solitary animals and do not mate for life. In the wild, the average life span of a mole is four years, but they have been known to reach seven.
What Eats Moles?
As with all small mammals, the mole has a number of predators. Variations in size do mean some moles are not as threatened, but no mole is especially large. Birds, reptiles, foxes and wolves will all eat moles. By far the greatest threat in the past was humans, hunting moles for their skin, but now the largest human threat is to moles burrowing in people's gardens. Burrowing allows moles to keep out of the way of predators for a majority of the time and the burrows are too small for ferrets, weasels and other burrowing mammals to get down.