1/11/2024 0 Comments Pacific northwest animals![]() Spring floods kill many moles, especially young ones humans also kill many moles.Moles are also killed by domestic dogs and cats, but are rarely eaten.Because of their secluded life underground and their strong, musky odor, moles are unpalatable to most mammalian predators however, raccoons and coyotes do dig them out, presumably to eat them.Moles move slowly on the surface and are preyed upon by owls, hawks, and snakes. Moles may come to the surface at night to search for food, nesting material, and new territories.Moles reach sexual maturity at about ten months of age and breed in their first winter.Young moles disperse above ground at night during the month after weaning, forming their own territories within about 30 yards of their birth site.As the wet plant material decays, it generates heat that is retained in the nest cavity, keeping the young warm when their mother is absent. Green vegetation may be added to the nest after the young are born.The nest is located within a cavity 5 to 18 inches underground, usually in "high ground" to prevent the nest from being flooded by late-winter or early spring rains. The nest is constructed from soft vegetation that is matted down and interwoven to form a compact, protective shell about 2 inches thick.Depending on the species and elevation, mating can take place from winter to early summer, producing a single litter of three to five young.Verts and Carraway, Land Mammals of Oregon A mole's long jaws and 44 teeth are adapted for consuming small insects. ![]() Moles patrol their complex arrangement of tunnels in search of prey that use or fall into the tunnels.įigure 2.Stomach samples in Oregon revealed that 70 to 90 percent of the Townsend mole's diet is earthworms however it also ate grass roots, vegetable crop roots and bulbs, and seeds.A mole's diet is mostly insects and other invertebrates, including earthworms, centipedes, millipedes, snails, slugs, grubs, ants, sowbugs, termites, beetles, and crickets (Fig.Although most North American moles are insectivorous, Washington species are somewhat omnivorous, eating both plants and animals.The average city lot will rarely harbor more than one male or two female moles.Population densities vary from one adult mole in 6 acres to more than five adult moles per acre.Typically, the ranges of neighboring male moles do not overlap, but each male's range may overlap those of a number of females, and female ranges may overlap with those of other females.Except during the breeding season and for a female mole with her young, moles are solitary animals that live in established burrow systems with limited overlap into other moles' territories.Monofilament recovery and recycling program.
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