Question: My observations suggest that in Britain there are clusters of mole colonies with large mole-free regions in-between. How did distant colonies get started? Is each colony hopelessly inbred? Are moles a British phenomenon? Or are there similar continental moles and, if so, how did their communities spread?
Moles are not purely a British phenomenon. There are 30 species worldwide, seven of which are found in north America. Most moles spend the majority of their lives underground in a system of permanent and temporary tunnels. Exceptions are the desmans, which are aquatic, the star-nosed mole, which is semi-aquatic, and the diminutive shrew-moles that forage underground and on the surface.
Moles may burrow as fast as one foot per minute. Their surface tunnels are usually only temporary and appear in newly cultivated fields, in areas with light, sandy soil and in very shallow soils where prey is concentrated just below the ...
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