What is the difference between a mole and a mole rat?

The fauna is rich in various species of animals, similar to each other in a number of characteristics. But there are also completely different representatives of families, who are very often confused. These include the mole and the mole rat. Both animals lead an underground lifestyle and have some similarities in appearance. But the difference between a mole rat and a mole is obvious - they belong to different orders of animals. The mole and mole rat lead a life hidden from prying eyes and are rarely discovered. Therefore, during their infrequent appearance on the surface of the earth, people do not manage to look at them carefully. A quick glance at these animals allows you to see very similar features. This is the reason why they are constantly confused.

Nutrition

So, first of all, I would like to note that the mole rat is a rodent, and the mole is an insectivore.
The blind man is a threat to summer cottages and vegetable gardens; he shows no interest in animal food. The animal digs close to the surface, trying to find underground parts of plants - tubers, bulbs, root vegetables and other goodies. Unlike the mole rat, the mole does not look for food in gardens, and it is also absolutely indifferent to garden plots. However, provided there is a high level of soil moisture, it can easily be found in the garden.

This is a predator that feasts on earthworms and earthworms, consuming them in considerable quantities. Its delicacies include the larvae of butterflies, beetles, beetles and other harmful insects. In this way, of course, they provide an invaluable service to summer residents.

Studying the topic of what is the difference between animals, it becomes obvious that these are completely different species, and in no case should you generalize them. Now, unfortunately, there is not much information about diggers, and sometimes the information is contradictory. The way of life of animals is still little studied, and there are many blank spots. The mole rat keeps the most secrets, which is due to the secretive habitat of the animal.

Who digs what?

The mole rat can safely be called a real champion in digging the earth; among other rodent diggers, it proudly takes an honorable first place. Both animals' habitat is underground, but they use different techniques for digging.

The mole rat uses its large incisors, which protrude strongly forward. With them, he seems to fluff up the soil, and then pushes it upward. At the same time, the animal’s mouth is protected from soil getting inside; nature has thought of everything - the baby’s lips reliably cover the mouth behind the front teeth. So, during the “work”, the lips are tightly compressed.

Unlike a blind man, a mole digs with its powerful front paws, which are perfectly adapted to this. Construction of tunnels requires a lot of energy, which forced him to adapt to the difficulties. To overcome the most difficult areas, the animal uses the technique of creating small earthquakes.

To do this, he has to make blows with his own head, as a result of which he is able to assess the reflection of seismic waves. The method makes it possible to lay a path with the minimum possible energy losses.

Our season with the mole rat, the beginning

This was last season. We caught the first mole rat. This rarely happens. Apparently, a young mole rat ran to a neighbor’s empty plot and began to burrow into the ground. We saw it in groups. Quite quickly they appeared and approached our site.

There was a water hose nearby. They prepared a bucket, dug the last hole and began pouring water into it. There were still few moves, there was nowhere to hide, so the mole rat jumped straight into the bucket. And he was safely transported to the field.

The first mole rat to be caught and released into the field

Typically, the apartments of these animals are multi-passage and up to 3 m deep. Water won't scare established mole rats.

Misfortune never comes alone

On the other hand, a more experienced mole rat began to dig under. It looks like he managed to start a family and reproduce. Because we caught a few.

This is such a big gray and scary mole rat

And he climbed into the greenhouses. And he dug up half the plot and became interested in the young onion. Including the elite from the seeds, he stole it all. We understood that this was just the beginning.

Where do shrews live?

It is noteworthy that severe hunger can turn an insectivorous mammal into a real predator. In the fight for prey, a shrew can fight with its fellow tribesmen, mice or lizards.

Where does the shrew live? In forests, on the banks of reservoirs, in meadows, in foliage and last year's grass. She especially loves secluded tree crevices or rotten hollows, where she can sleep sweetly during the day.

Basically, this insectivore prefers to “work” at night. Geographically, the shrew lives all over the globe, with the exception of the polar regions, where the cold reigns - there it can be found very rarely. But in fact, this animal is not afraid of either heat or cold.

Mole rats

These underground inhabitants cause much more damage to gardens and fields than moles. If moles annoy us only by leaving mounds of earth, then mole rats, plus this, can deprive us of part of the harvest of potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetables. Moles are insectivores, they feed on insects, worms, larvae, and mole rats are rodents. Getting rid of mole rats is very difficult.

What is the difference between a mole rat and a mole?

The mole rat (blind man) belongs to the mole rat family. This is a rodent adapted to an underground lifestyle. He's completely blind. Instead of eyes, it has a thick fold of skin, densely covered with coarse, bristly hair. The tail and ears are underdeveloped. The front legs of mole rats are small. They are not at all similar to digging organs - the hands of the front paws are small, all five fingers have small claws.

The mole rat digs the ground with its teeth - wide incisors. Actually, he chews it out with his incisors. Behind his incisors, and they seem to be on the outside, he has multifold lips that cover the mouth opening. Therefore, the earth does not enter the mouth. The head is wide, flattened. The body length of the mole rat is 15-35 cm. The skull has a special, unique shape.

The main habitats are forest belts, fields, steppes from the western regions of Ukraine to the Volga, Western Ciscaucasia. Its settlements are scattered. Its highest density of settlement (Ukraine) is achieved in virgin areas, adjacent crops of perennial grasses, crops of grain crops, near ravines, shelter belts, and forest edges.

Mole rat burrows are located in several tiers. A complex system of horizontal passages is laid shallow - a depth of 10-25 cm. These are stern passages. They lead down to the deep tier, where 1-3 nesting chambers are located. The depth of their location can be different - 80-120 or even up to 320 cm. The diameter of the passages is from 5-6 to 11-12 cm. When laying passages through a temporarily constructed tunnel, the earth is thrown to the surface, forming a pile 10-25 cm high, 20 cm in diameter -30 to 240 cm.

How to get rid of a mole rat

Mole rats are difficult to get rid of. Most often, strong poisons are used, the same as for rats. It's quite effective and often really helps.

But they must be used very carefully - after all, a garden, a dacha, a vegetable garden is a place where children and pets walk, play

You can set traps, but this is a troublesome task, since this entire structure must be deepened and placed near the entrance/exit of the hole. Moreover, it is not at all necessary that the mole rat will use this particular move. According to gardeners, mole rats are smart. If one mole rat gets caught in a trap or trap, the others will be warned of the danger - no one else will get caught. Most often they bypass traps and traps.

There is another way. An ordinary cat will help you get rid of mole rats. It is best if the cat has caught rats before.

The passages or burrows of a mole rat can be easily identified by underground passages - the ground collapses under the weight of a passing person. Then you need to dig a hole (half a meter along the hole) and wait for the mole rat to start blocking the exit with earth. It does not tolerate temperature changes or access to fresh air, and immediately begins to push out portions of the earth, thereby clogging the exit.

At this time, it is necessary to prepare the hole for the next operation. Above the exit of the hole, make a depression of 30 centimeters (the bayonet of a shovel), expand it to half a meter on the sides - expect the mole rat to reappear at the exit with a cat. With its help, you will be freed from the malicious uninvited guest.

The common mole rat is completely devoid of vision, instead it has tactile hairs, a well-developed sense of smell and hearing. This is enough for the animal to live a normal life, during which it almost never sees sunlight. For many land owners, the mole rat has become a real punishment, because it is capable of digging up the entire planting area and even affecting the stability of the buildings located there.

Few people have seen common mole rats in person due to their lifestyle. They rarely come to the surface, and their activity increases with the onset of darkness. So many people have to get some idea of the size and lifestyle of the animal only from the traces it leaves. To help those who want to know how the common mole rat lives and looks, here are photos and stories from biologists.

Appearance

The mole reaches a length of 25 cm, it has strong front legs, a muzzle with a movable trunk and a small tail.

The short paws of the mole rat do not at all resemble digging organs. The eyes are replaced by a fold of skin - the animal really does not see anything and fully lives up to its name. But he has wide incisors. The body is slab-shaped, the shape of the skull is quite specific, the head is flattened. Animals reach a length of up to 35 cm. Hairs protruding from the fur part serve as organs of touch. They are the ones responsible for receiving information.

Effective methods of control

Owners who encounter mole rats complain that the animal burrows deeply and is very difficult to get out. Often underground “warehouses” are located at a depth of 1.5 meters. Attempts to get to the storage facility lead to unnecessary digging of beds and damage to the crop. How to remove a mole rat from the garden? Many gardeners are looking for an answer. The price of the issue is preserving a rich harvest.

Experienced gardeners offer several effective methods to get rid of dangerous rodents.

It is important to act quickly and not spare the animal. Excessive humanity often fails the owners, mole rats actively reproduce, a colony of five to eight individuals can leave the owners without a harvest

Traps

An effective way to catch a large pest. Traps, crossbows and snares are only suitable for catching large rodents

Before starting the fight, it is important to find out who is spoiling the crops and soil in the garden.

How to increase your chances of catching a mole rat:

go around the area, find a hole;
dig a hole well. 50–100 cm from the main entrance, dig a deep hole, place a trap, and place plywood on top;
a draft will appear, which mole rats are afraid of. The animal will get out to close the passage and fall into the trap.

Some owners install containers of water inside multi-tiered passages, from which the rodent cannot get out. This work is labor-intensive; it is necessary to dig the soil to great depths, but the success of the operation is not always noticeable.

Advice!

One of the methods for scaring away a voracious animal is to bury rags soaked in foul-smelling liquids at different depths. Kerosene and gasoline are suitable options. Sometimes animals are repelled by the aroma of essential oils. To combat mole rats, esters of eucalyptus, lavender, and cedar are suitable.

Ultrasonic repellers

Modern devices expel pests from the site. Sound waves actively affect rodents, cause panic, the animals cannot orient themselves, understand in which direction to move and look for food. After a while, large rodents will certainly leave the area in which they cannot feed and reproduce normally.

Installing several ultrasonic repellers in the garden will help increase the effectiveness of the fight against mole rats. When using modern devices, you should not additionally set traps with poisoned bait: the device operates anywhere in the area and expels pests even if there is a good food supply.

Ultrasonic devices protect the garden not only from mole rats. The devices drive away pests such as mole crickets from the site. The devices are designed to affect areas of a larger or smaller area. Several powerful devices, and there will never be harmful rodents and mammals in the garden.

Homemade repellent devices

The owners noticed that the animal with large incisors, breaking through multi-tiered passages, could not stand the noise. Loud noises cause the rodent to leave the area

It is important that the effect, which is unpleasant for the mole rat’s hearing, lasts for a long time

The owners recommend installing steel bars (up to 1 meter long) throughout the area. Place empty beer or condensed milk cans on top of them, and the homemade repeller is ready. When the wind blows, the cans hit the steel bars and make a loud, unpleasant sound.

Chemicals

Most owners consider the use of toxic drugs to be ineffective. The reason is that mole rats are reluctant to eat treats with a strange smell, because there are enough juicy carrots, beets and potatoes in the garden. Spraying plants causes more harm to the owners than to large rodents. Gardeners recommend more effective methods - and homemade noise devices.

When holes and gnawed plants appear in the garden, you will have to suspect not only a mole, but also a common mole rat of pest activity. A large rodent appears less often on sites, but the damage from its activities is very great. There are no special preventive measures: a rich harvest and an abundance of food always attracts the pest. Main rule:

do not wait until a whole brood settles in the garden instead of one individual. To combat mole rats, it is advisable to use an ultrasonic repeller that has proven effectiveness.

Video - lesson on how to catch mole rats in the garden:

Attention! Only today!

The harm and benefits of animals

Any gardener or summer resident will clutch his head if he sees heaps of earth on his plot. The presence of a mole or mole rat on land ownership definitely does not suit a person. But if you figure out the benefits and harms of these animals, you can come to a different conclusion.

In the wild, moles and mole rats play an important role in biocenoses and the circulation of substances. Their benefit lies in constantly mixing the soil, saturating it with oxygen, and dispersing plant seeds.

The mole feeds on insect pests, loosens the soil, and mixes the layers of earth. All this has a positive effect on the productivity of garden and garden crops. The only disadvantage of his activity is the spoiled appearance of the lawn or flower bed. Most often, it is for this reason that the owner of the site tries to effectively fight moles.

The activities of mole rats in the garden or garden have more serious consequences for humans:

damaged lawns and flower beds;
damaged roots of plants and garden trees;
destruction of root crops (potatoes, beets, carrots);
damage to bulbs of cultivated plants.

Such a detrimental effect on plantings leads to a significant reduction in yield. Landowners have every reason to get rid of rodents on their property at any cost. The general negative attitude towards burrowing animals may be the reason why they are often confused.

Source

Using water to catch mole rats

One or two buckets are not enough for you to catch a rodent

. In order to catch it with water, you need to use a long irrigation hose, or stock up on at least ten buckets of water.

First you need to find a tunnel that leads to the mole rat's hole. Ordinary moves are calculated on the ground covered with mounds. There is a passage leading into the burrow, which differs in that the mound contains clay (the rodent places its nest at great depths, where the soil is clayey).

A hole is dug near the embankment with clay, and a continuous flow of water is directed into it. The underground passages deepen in a helical manner, so it is necessary to generously fill them with water so that the rodent floats to the surface of the earth. All that remains is to grab the animal and do with it as you wish.

So, conclusions should be drawn:

Mole rats are voracious pests that also live a long time. To save your harvest, you should urgently get rid of rodents

a method that each summer resident chooses for himself.

Let's start with the fact that mole rats and moles are different animals, but they cause almost the same damage to a summer cottage.

The mole rat belongs to the category of rodents and feeds exclusively on root vegetables. For him, carrots, beets, and potatoes are delicacies.

You can find animals in your garden through earthen mounds and deep tunnels into which you can even fall. Initially, many people think that moles are to blame, but there are other pests that are very similar to moles, since they do not see anything.

Let's find out what a mole rat looks like and how it differs from a mole. And also the question that interests us: “How to get rid of mole rats in the garden and summer cottage?”

The mole rat is a rodent and a fairly large one of its relatives. Its weight often reaches about 1 kg, and its body length is 30 cm. The animal has a large and flattened head, the ears are very small, and there is no tail at all.

The hairline is very tough, since long hairs sticking out in different directions act as organs of touch. Instead of eyes, individuals have dense skin folds that resemble closed eyes, but they are not there at all.

The rodent's lips are tightly compressed, thereby protecting the mouth from the entry of soil, but two incisors, which are very massive and long, protrude out. With their help, the mole rat does all the work underground in search of food, digs holes, and gnaws root crops.

The paws are very small and poorly developed.

Habitat

Mole rats live in forest-steppe and steppe zones, not far from forest plantations and cereal crops. All subspecies of the mole rat, namely Bukovinian, Podolian, sandy and Pontic, are exhibits of the Red Book of Ukraine.

Every year the number of pest animals remains the same, and they are observed only on the right side of the Dnieper River, since they cannot overcome the width of the river.

What does it eat?

If there is no harvest on your plot, then you should not blame all the blame on the mole. We need to decide which crops are missing. If these are potatoes, beets and carrots, then this is definitely the work of the “teeth” of the mole rat.

In addition, the animal is not averse to eating bulbous crops, so flowers that have corms instead of roots may also suffer. The mole rat also eats the above-ground part of the plant, pulling the bush underground.

The pest's favorite greens are peas, beans, beans, and carrot tops. If the animal has enjoyed the grass, then it will prepare the root crop for future use.

It is known that an adult is capable of eating as much food per day as it weighs, therefore, when excavating its winter reserves, up to 18 kg of potatoes and other root crops were discovered in different compartments. Dry berries and nuts can be supplies for the winter.

Differences from a mole

And the mole rat are completely different categories of animals.

They have some differences:

The mole is a predatory animal, feeds on worms and larvae, and the mole rat is a herbivore.
The mole rat is much larger in size than mole individuals.
The mole has strong and powerful paws, with which it digs underground passages, while the mole rat has short and weak legs, and digs holes with large teeth.
The mole's claws are large, while those of the rodent are practically absent.

The blind animal digs very complex burrows, which have many branches and tiers, where the cubs, kitchen and pantries are located, in which supplies for the winter are stored.

Interspecific differences

The main difference between the two animals is interspecific. The mole belongs to the group of insectivores and is a predator. The length of its body rarely exceeds 20 cm. The streamlined shape of the body allows it to quickly move through narrow tunnels. The mole rat spends his entire adult life searching for food. The mole's daily diet includes the following insects:

earthworms and earthworms;
larvae of beetles, beetles;
butterfly larvae and other insects.

The underground predator digs its holes with the help of powerful forelimbs, slightly turned outward. The toes are equipped with large claws, with which the animal is able to rake out large volumes of soil. The underground passages of the mole rat are located at a depth of 20-25 cm, where his favorite food can be found in abundance.

If we compare the appearance of the animals, the photo of the mole mole is superior in perception, since it looks like a funny little animal with a long nose. The mole rat looks more intimidating because of its large teeth.

The mole rat is superior in size, especially for a rather rare species - the giant mole rat, the size of which can reach 35 cm in length. The mole rat, or its popular name the blind man, belongs to the order of rodents and feeds only on plant foods. His favorite dishes are:

The difference between a mole and a mole rat in appearance is immediately obvious. Four huge incisors at the top and bottom protrude beyond the oral cavity, and they are also the main tool of the digger. And its limbs are small, proportional paws. Like many rodents, they are not very developed, unlike the forelimbs of a mole.

The blind man prefers to dig holes in two tiers. The upper floor is deepened by 20-25 cm, where the roots of the plants are located. The lower tier is intended for nesting, storing food supplies and other needs of the rodent.

Reproduction of blind women

Lesser mole rats are solitary animals. The network of tunnels of one individual does not connect with the burrows of another.

Individuals of different sexes are found exclusively during the breeding season. The mating season for small mole rats begins in the spring and continues until summer. But today scientists do not know how blind women find partners and create pairs.

Mole rats give birth to offspring once a year. One female can have up to 6 cubs in a litter, but, as a rule, 3-4 babies are born. A blind woman feeds her offspring for 4 weeks.

Nothing is known about the life expectancy of small mole rats, as well as about their mating behavior.

Natural enemies

Mole rats are solitary animals. Adult mole rats live only in separate burrows. They are very careful and rarely fall into human traps.
The mole rat can cause damage to agricultural crops in vegetable gardens and household plots. Soil emissions make it difficult to carry out field work, for example, mechanized mowing of perennial grasses for hay, and spoil field roads. At the same time, it is difficult to fight the mole rat due to its underground lifestyle. For this purpose, mechanical traps and repellent devices are used.
The giant mole rat is a protected species listed in the Red Book of Russia and the IUCN Red List.

Today, the most famous rodent-digger is the mole. And such a representative of the fauna as the giant mole rat remains little known, although it is not inferior in size to the mole. Its brothers (lesser mole rat, common mole rat and sand mole rat) are more common and there is more information about them. The sand mole rat is most similar to the giant mole rat in terms of appearance and biology. This animal is also a very interesting species and has its own characteristics that distinguish it from other representatives of rodent-dwellers.

Long multi-tiered underground passages and “storerooms” filled with crops taken from the owners - this is the result of the activity of a large rodent. The mole rat actively eats young plants and stores root crops for the winter. One adult individual is capable of taking a considerable part of the grown vegetables from its owners. If a family of animals with large incisors has settled on the site, you can forget about the high yield of potatoes, beets or carrots.

Another unpleasant point is that the diameter of the underground passages is from 5 to 12–15 cm. The rodent is quite large, digs actively, and damage to the underground part of the plants is clearly visible. The animal creates recesses and holes for movement, starting from a depth of 10 cm. The lower tiers stretch 1–3 meters in depth. An extensive system of underground “communications” and exits to the surface interfere with the normal development of plants.

Common mole rat in the CIS

Types of mole rats in the CIS

common blind man - Spalacinae
Bukovina mole rat - Spalax graecus

Common blind man - Spalacinae

In its own way, the common blind man is believed to actually fill an area that is less than 2,000 square kilometers. In the region of its disappearance in Chechnya, it is believed that the reason is the civil war, which drove the animal out of its habitat. It also suffers in other places where its range is encroached upon due to overgrazing, plowing, irrigation and increasing soil salinity. In Dagestan, it is believed that the population will decline to approximately 10,000 individuals.

Bukovina mole rat - Spalax graecus

Full scientific name of the species: Spalax graecus Nehring

, 1898. Other names of the species: Greek mole rat. One of 5 modern species of the genus, one of four species of the genus in the fauna of Ukraine (Topachevsky 1969).

Biological characteristics

. Typical biotopes are areas of residual virgin lands, pastures, hayfields, ravine slopes and forest edges, as well as field roadsides, shelterbelts, household plots and fields with cultivated plants. The mole rat is a highly specialized mole rat that lives in long (up to 200 m) branched burrows. The area of individual plots ranges from 90 (for young people) to 250 square meters. m (Yangolenko 1961).

The nesting chamber is predominantly single, lined with dry grasses; storerooms are located at a depth of up to 1.5 m. It feeds on roots in the diet of more than 50 species of plants; winter reserves range from 0.5 to 12 kg (usually 1-4 kg of reserves), consumes food per day, equal to the body weight of the mole rat. Sexual maturity occurs in the third year of life. At the beginning of the year (January-March), the female gives birth to 2-3 babies, and already in May the young begin to live independently (Yangolenko and Filipchuk 1990).

Geographical distribution

. Areal endemic. On the territory of Ukraine it is found only in the territory of Bukovina within two districts of the Chernivtsi region. - Storozhinetsky and Golubitsky (Yangolenko, 1959, 1966). Also distributed in Romania (Hamar 1974).

Assessment of the state of populations

. The current size of the Ukrainian population is estimated at 1.5 thousand individuals. The density of mole rats in their places of residence averages 0.2-0.4 individuals per hectare, rarely 4-10 people. / Ha (ibid.). A factor of vulnerability and a decrease in the total number of the species is intensive human economic activity, including plowing virgin soil, the use of pesticides and mineral fertilizers, etc.

Security measures. No special protection measures are required for the species. The species is included in the European (1991) Red List and in Appendix II of the Berne Convention. The species has a conservation category according to the Red Book of Ukraine (Filipchuk 1994). It is protected on the territory of the national reserve “Tsetsin”, in the Chernivtsi region. To preserve the species, it is necessary to grant protective status to new areas where biotopes typical for the species are found and places of residence of this species have been identified.

Appearance

Body length 20-50 cm. Body oblong oval. Giant mole rat of gray-brown color. The coat is short and thick. The upper part of the body is usually lighter than the lower part. In older individuals, the fur often turns white. There are no eyes. To be more precise, there are eyeballs, but they are hidden under the skin and are practically undeveloped. The nose is large and bare. The mustache is short. The teeth are represented by only two pairs of incisors (front teeth). The legs are short with small claws. There are no external ears, with only two holes visible on the sides of the head. The tail is missing. Long hairs grow on the forehead, cheeks, belly, near the mouth and on the back of the body, which perform the function of touch. (Fig. 1 Mole rat photo)

The activity of this pest leaves behind long, several-tiered passages in the garden, as well as underground storerooms in which the animal stores part of the crop grown by the owners in their gardens. As a rule, it eats the green mass first and stores the root crops for the winter. Even one mole rat is capable of taking away a considerable share of the harvest. If several individuals appear on the site, then you can forget about high yields of crops such as potatoes, onions, beets and carrots.

In addition, it digs quite large tunnels, with a diameter of 5 to 15 cm, due to which it damages some plants in the area. The lower tiers can be located at a depth of up to 3 meters, and the upper ones - at a depth of 10 cm. Such a system of underground passages often does not allow the normal development of many cultivated plants.

Mole or mole rat

And now let’s talk about the sore point, about such a complex and difficult fight against “moles”, namely mole rats, since it is not the mole, for which a plant-based diet is contraindicated, that rules our gardens, but the mole rat. The real mole, his appearance, habits and habits were discussed above.

The mole rat is similar to the mole only in its manner of throwing out soil when digging holes and its exclusively underground lifestyle. You can see him extremely rarely; he leaves his underground galleries once, leaving his native nest at a young age.

The appearance of the mole rat is very unusual, the body shape resembles a plump cylinder, the geometric perfection of which is not disturbed by either the ears or the tail, since they are underdeveloped. The large head of the mole rat is flattened in the shape of a wedge. He is completely blind, in place of his eyes a thick fold of skin has formed, densely covered with bristly hair, even the fleas living on him are also blind. The body of the animal is covered with thick silky ocher-brown fur, in which there is no down and guard hairs that are familiar to us; Hard hairs protruding from the fur are organs of touch.

The mole rat's legs are short and weak; they do not take part in digging; the main digging tool is huge incisors sticking out. The lips are equipped with folds that close the mouth so that the earth does not get there during underground robots. The body length of the mole rat is 20-25 cm.

In addition to the common mole rat, there are four more species:

sand mole rat,
Pontic mole rat,
Bukovina mole rat and
Podolsk mole rat.

All of them, except the common mole rat, are listed in the Red Book. Scientists studying these rodents note that the number of mole rats in the west and north is also declining. Let us also note that the common mole rat lives only in Left Bank Ukraine; the Dnieper is an insurmountable barrier for it.

What do mole rats eat?

In the wild, mole rats feed on all kinds of green and underground parts of plants; on occasion, they eat sown acorns, seedlings and young seedlings of oak, maple and other deciduous trees; an important part of their diet consists of bulbous trees. In a cultivated landscape, they are most numerous in crops of perennial grasses and vegetable gardens, where they subsist on root crops, bulbs, and tubers. The lifestyle of these animals is still poorly understood and still leaves many questions. For example, it is known that mole rats store supplies for the winter. At first glance, the mass of prepared food is impressive: 15-18 kg of potatoes in one pantry, in other pantries - up to 14 kg of tree roots and sprouted acorns. But if in the warm season the animal eats a mass of food per day approximately equal to its body weight, and this is about 500 g, then it becomes clear that these reserves will not be enough for the whole winter; apparently, in the cold season their metabolism and food slows down. less is consumed.

Animal similarities

Despite the significant differences between the two underground inhabitants, they have much in common. The habitat of animals can overlap in steppe and forest-steppe zones. The mole rat prefers drier turf soils. Moles are found in the forest zone, in lowlands, ravines, where the ground is damp and inhabited by worms.

A common feature of these unusual burrow dwellers is reduced vision. Most animals have very small eyes; they are difficult to see among the fur. Some species lost their organs of vision, which were subsequently covered with folds of skin.

The calling card of both animals is the throwing of earth to the surface while digging tunnels. It is by this action that you can determine where the diggers are found. Their underground activities are striking in their scale. One individual makes more than 300 soil emissions per season, which amounts to several cubic meters of soil. And the length of the tunnels of one animal can reach 350 meters.