The Senkaku mole (''Mogera uchidai''), also known as the Ryukyu mole, is a species of

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

in the family

Talpidae The family (biology), family Talpidae () includes the true Mole (animal), moles (as well as the shrew moles and desmans) who are small insectivore, insectivorous mammals of the order (biology), order Eulipotyphla. Talpids are all fossorial, diggi ...

. It was formerly classified as being the only species in the genus '' Nesoscaptor''. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Uotsuri-jima (;

hiragana is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", ...

: うおつりじま) of the disputed territory of

Senkaku Islands The Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and the Tiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan, are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan. They were historically known in the Western world as the Pinnacle ...

, also known as the Diaoyutai Islands ( zh, c=釣魚台列嶼). It is most similar to the Insular mole (''Mogera insularis'') of Taiwan and mainland China.

Ecological threats

Its existence is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, due to the introduction of

domestic goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bo ...

s in 1978; the goats now number more than 300 on this tiny island. Its conservation status was upgraded to CR in 2010 by the Biodiversity Center of Japan, although the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

still considers that current lack of population data prevents an accurate assessment. New population studies have evaluated the species as vulnerable.

References

External links

Mogera Endemic mammals of Japan Mammals described in 1991 Senkaku Islands Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic fauna of the Ryukyu Islands {{soricomorpha-stub

Ecological threats

References

Further reading

External links