The hairy-tailed mole (''Parascalops breweri''), also known as Brewer's mole, is a medium-sized

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

. It is the only member of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Parascalops''. The species epithet ''breweri'' refers to

Thomas Mayo Brewer Thomas Mayo Brewer (November 21, 1814 – January 24, 1880) was an American naturalist, specializing in ornithology and oology. Biography Thomas Mayo Brewer was born in Boston, the younger brother of noted Boston merchant Gardner Brewer. He ...

, an American naturalist.

Taxonomy

Despite inhabiting North America, studies indicate that it is not closely related to the two other North American scalopine moles (''

Scalopus The Eastern Mole or Common Mole (''Scalopus aquaticus'') is a medium-sized North American mole. It is the only member of genus ''Scalopus''. It is found in forested and open areas with moist sandy soils in northern Mexico, the eastern Unite ...

'' and ''

Scapanus ''Scapanus'' is a genus of mole (animal), moles in the family Talpidae. They live in North America from west of the Rocky Mountains, Rockies south to Baja California, Baja California del Norte, and north to British Columbia, wherever conditions ...

''), but rather to the two

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

scalopine moles (''

Scapanulus The Gansu mole (''Scapanulus oweni'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae endemic to central China, where it occurs in Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, and Qinghai. It is the only species in the genus ''Scapanulus''. Along with the Medog ...

'' and '' Alpiscaptulus''). This indicates that the two Chinese moles likely descend from a migration from North America back into Eurasia, where the scalopine moles originated. Some studies have suggested placing ''Parascalops'', ''Scapanulus'', and ''Alpiscaptulus'' into a single subtribe Parascalopina.

Appearance

The quadrupeds of North America (Plate LXXIV) (7748318398)

This animal has dark grey fur with lighter underparts, a pointed nose and a short, hairy tail. It is about in length, including a tail, and weighs about . Its front paws are broad and spade-shaped, specialized for digging. It has 44 teeth. Its eyes are covered by fur and its ears are not external. Its feet and snout are pinkish, but become white in older animals. Several adaptations to living primarily underground can be seen in the hairy-tailed mole. Its pelage is very dense and silky, and its feet are broad, flat, and heavy. Moles rely very little on their eyesight and have very small

optic nerve In neuroanatomy, the optic nerve, also known as the second cranial nerve, cranial nerve II, or simply CN II, is a paired cranial nerve that transmits visual system, visual information from the retina to the brain. In humans, the optic nerve i ...

s. To accommodate its lack of vision, the hairy-tailed mole has sensitive whiskers and hairs on the tip of its nose and feet to feel its surroundings.

Habitat

It is found in forested and open areas with dry loose soils in eastern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the northeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Since it is a

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

mammal, it needs moist but well-drained soil so that it can dig easily. The hairy-tailed mole prefers deciduous and coniferous woods, oldfields, and roadsides.

Behavior

The hairy-tailed mole is

cathemeral Cathemerality, sometimes called metaturnality, is an organismal activity pattern of irregular intervals during the day or night in which food is acquired, socializing with other organisms occurs, and any other activities necessary for livelihood ar ...

. Since it lives primarily underground in shallow tunnels it can forage throughout the day and will also forage on the ground's surface at night. The hairy-tailed mole is more active near the surface during warmer summer months and digs deeper underground in the cooler fall and winter months. This mole spends most of its time underground,

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's Fitness (biology), fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Optimal foraging theory, Foraging theory is a branch of behaviora ...

in shallow

burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of sh ...

s for insects and their larvae and earthworms. It emerges at night to feed. It is active year-round. Predators include

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es and large snakes. This animal is mainly solitary except during mating in early spring. The female has a litter of 4 to 5 young in a deep burrow. This mole may live 3 to 4 years.

Diet

Hairy-tailed moles are

insectivore A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores wer ...

s and have been shown to starve if vegetable matter is the only food source available. The hairy-tailed mole's diet is mostly grubs,

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

s, and

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...

s, particularly when other food sources are not available.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mole, Hairy-tailed Fauna of the Eastern United States Fauna of the Northeastern United States

Hairy-tailed mole The hairy-tailed mole (''Parascalops breweri''), also known as Brewer's mole, is a medium-sized North American mole. It is the only member of the genus ''Parascalops''. The species epithet ''breweri'' refers to Thomas Mayo Brewer, an American ...

Hairy-tailed Mole The hairy-tailed mole (''Parascalops breweri''), also known as Brewer's mole, is a medium-sized North American mole. It is the only member of the genus ''Parascalops''. The species epithet ''breweri'' refers to Thomas Mayo Brewer, an American ...