You’ve probably seen the little mounds of dirt ruining your perfect lawn. Most folks look at a molehill and think "pest." Honestly, that's a bit unfair. These creatures are some of the most specialized mammals on the planet, and they’ve been swimming through the dirt for millions of years. When we talk about the types of moles animal enthusiasts and gardeners encounter, we aren't just talking about one generic grey blob. There's a whole world of diversity beneath your boots.
Moles are weird. Evolution really leaned into the "digging machine" aesthetic with them. They have these massive, shovel-like front paws and no visible ears. Their eyes are tiny, sometimes covered by skin, because honestly, who needs 20/20 vision when you're literally living inside a wall of dirt? They are part of the family Talpidae. This includes about 42 different species, though most people only ever deal with one or two in their lifetime. They aren't rodents, by the way. Moles are insectivores, more closely related to shrews and hedgehogs than to rats or gophers. That’s a huge distinction because it means they aren't eating your tulip bulbs; they're hunting the grubs that eat your tulip bulbs.
The Broad-Handed Specialists: Common Types of Moles
If you live in North America or Europe, you’re likely walking over one of three main players. The Eastern Mole (Scalopus aquaticus) is the heavyweight champion of the United States. Despite the name "aquaticus," they don't actually like swimming that much. The name came from a mistake by Carl Linnaeus, who saw their webbed-looking feet and assumed they were ducks with fur. They aren't. They just use those webbed feet to displace massive amounts of soil.
Then you have the European Mole (Talpa europaea). These are the ones you see in old British literature. They are solitary, incredibly grumpy, and can tunnel up to 20 meters in a single day. Think about that for a second. If a human tried to dig a tunnel equivalent to their body size at that speed, we’d need a fleet of excavators.
The Star-Nosed Mole (Condylura cristata) is the one that looks like an alien. It lives in wet, swampy areas of eastern North America. Instead of a normal nose, it has 22 pink, fleshy tentacles. It’s actually the fastest eater in the animal kingdom. It can identify and swallow prey in less than 230 milliseconds. Its nose is covered in Eimer’s organs—thousands of tiny sensory receptors that let it "see" a 3D map of its environment through touch. It's basically Daredevil, but smaller and covered in mud.
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Why Do They Dig So Much?
Energy. That’s the short answer.
A mole’s metabolism is a runaway train. Because they spend so much energy moving earth, they have to eat roughly 70% to 100% of their body weight every single day. If they stop eating for even half a day, they might just die of starvation. This is why they are so frantic. When you see a new tunnel, you aren't seeing a home; you're seeing a trap. Moles dig these paths so that earthworms fall into them. The mole then patrols the "hallway," picking up the snacks that fell through the ceiling.
Shrew-Moles: The Odd Cousins
Not every mole is a subterranean hermit. The American Shrew-Mole (Neurotrichus gibbsii) is the smallest of the bunch. You’ll find them in the Pacific Northwest. They don't have those giant digging paws. Instead, they look a bit more like a mouse with a long snout. They spend a lot of time above ground, scurrying through leaf litter. It’s a bit of an evolutionary middle ground. They can dig, sure, but they’d rather just find a nice pile of damp leaves to hunt in.
Misunderstandings and Realities
People get "mole" and "vole" mixed up all the time. It drives biologists crazy.
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- Moles: Carnivores. Pointy snouts. Tiny eyes. Big digging paws.
- Voles: Rodents. They look like chunky field mice. They eat your plants.
If your hostas are disappearing, don't blame the types of moles animal researchers study; blame the voles. Moles are actually beneficial for soil aeration. They mix subsoil with topsoil and help water reach roots. But, yeah, the mounds are ugly. I get it.
There's also this myth that if you hit a mole, it'll bleed to death because they're hemophiliacs. That’s total nonsense. It’s one of those weird old wives' tales that just won't die. They have perfectly normal blood clotting. What they do have is a special kind of hemoglobin that allows them to survive in high-CO2 environments where other mammals would suffocate. They are basically built for a low-oxygen lifestyle.
The Townsend’s Mole: The Giant of the West
Out in the Pacific Northwest, the Townsend's Mole (Scapanus townsendii) is the one making headlines. These guys are huge compared to their Eastern cousins. They can grow up to nine inches long. Because they’re bigger, their mounds are bigger. If you’re a golf course manager in Oregon, this animal is your arch-nemesis.
Interestingly, Townsend's moles are somewhat social—or at least, they tolerate each other better than most. Most moles will fight to the death if they run into a stranger in their tunnel. It's a lonely, violent life in the dark. But Townsend's moles have been known to share "main highways" under certain conditions, which is a weirdly civilized trait for a creature that spends its life eating worms in total isolation.
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The Survival Strategy of the Talpids
One thing most people miss is how these animals handle winter. They don't hibernate. They just go deeper. As the frost line moves down, the worms move down. The moles follow the food. They have "kitchens" where they store paralyzed earthworms. They bite the heads of the worms to damage the nerve cord, keeping the worm alive but unable to crawl away. It’s gruesome, but it’s a brilliant way to have fresh meat in February.
Managing Your Relationship With Moles
Look, if you have a mole, it means your soil is healthy. It means you have a high biomass of worms and grubs. If you want them gone, you have to address the food source. People try all sorts of "home remedies" like putting chewing gum or broken glass in the tunnels. Please don't do that. It doesn't work, and it's just mean.
The only real way to move a mole along is to use a harvester-style trap or to wait for them to finish their work. Once they've cleared the grubs from an area, they often move on to the neighbor's yard anyway. If you're feeling particularly "zen," you can just kick the mounds flat and use the displaced dirt as free, highly aerated top-dressing for your flower beds.
Identifying What’s In Your Yard
- Conical Mounds: Classic mole. The dirt is pushed straight up from a deep tunnel.
- Surface Ridges: These are "feeder tunnels." The mole is literally just under the grass, pushing up the turf as it hunts.
- Open Holes: Probably not a mole. Moles like to keep their tunnels sealed to maintain humidity and temperature. If there’s a clean hole, you're looking at a vole or a pocket gopher.
Actionable Steps for Coexisting or Removing
If you’ve decided that you and the local types of moles animal populations cannot live in harmony, skip the gimmicks. Forget the ultrasonic spikes; research shows they basically do nothing except vibrate and annoy your dog.
- Step 1: Determine the "Active" Tunnel. Step on a surface ridge and flatten it. Come back 24 hours later. If it’s pushed back up, that’s a main travel lane. That is where you place a trap or a repellent.
- Step 2: Castor Oil. Natural repellents based on castor oil can work. It doesn't kill them, but it makes the worms taste bad and the soil smell weird to the mole. They’ll usually shift their hunting grounds elsewhere.
- Step 3: Soil Moisture. Moles love damp soil because it's easier to dig. If you over-water your lawn, you're essentially inviting them to a spa day. Let the lawn dry out a bit if you want them to head for the woods.
- Step 4: Accept the Aeration. If the mounds aren't in a high-traffic area, just leave them. The benefits they provide to the soil ecosystem often outweigh the aesthetic annoyance. They eat Japanese Beetle larvae, which are far more destructive to your garden in the long run.
Understanding the specific mole species in your region helps you predict their behavior. Whether it's the bizarre Star-Nosed mole in your back 40 or the standard Eastern mole under your prize roses, these animals are just doing a job that's been in their job description for about 30 million years. They aren't trying to ruin your day; they're just trying to find enough worms to survive until tomorrow.