Quarantine entry #54 - May 14

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and odds that the U.S.-Canadian borders will not open until mid-summer or so are quite high. What will result from that is anyone’s guess, so let us talk something different. How about… moles?

Now, the word ‘mole’ has several meanings, but we are talking here about the animal ‘mole’. As it regularly happens in the animal kingdom, of course, the word ‘mole’ covers several different groups of animals, so let us begin.

First, the word ‘mole’ is the name of mammals in the Talpidae family of the Eulipotyphla order, and if the latter sounds familiar, you are absolutely right. We have talked about this mammalian order when we have discussed hedgehogs in the recent past; they, shrews, and the ‘true’ moles of Eurasia and North America are related to each other, though the moles are less derived than the hedgehogs and the shrews are, apparently. The solenodons, which also belong to the Eulipotyphla order make the other branch of this order, alongside the now extinct West Indian shrews, (apparently they were a separate family from the other mammals that are called ‘shrews’), so let’s not talk about them.

Now, as it was discussed, shrews look rather like mice, albeit with proboscis-like snouts, while moles look like themselves: their feet are tiny as are their arms; their hands are huge, and have an extra false thumb for digging; their eyes are almost non-existent, but their snouts are long and sensitive. The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) of North America deserves a special mention, as its’ snout is not just sensitive, but is equipped with multiple tendrils that make the star-nosed mole’s snout a unique touch organ, giving the star-nosed mole an almost alien look, (especially when seen from the front.

This animal is atypical among the moles, (both ‘true’ and otherwise) in that it is also the most aquatic mole, (there are aquatic shrews, but they don’t count here), as it can hunt in the water as well as underground; and in that it has an unusually long tail by mole standards, making it almost look like a desman.

…A desman is the name of two species of mammals that also belong to the mole family, Talpidae, but live in the water, not underground, and look more like giant shrews rather than moles. This brings us to the shrew moles and the mole shrews.

A shrew mole is a mole that resembles a shrew. Most of such mammals are found in China, but two live in Japan, and the third – in North America. Such mammals look like shrews, with long snouts, long slender tails, (in true shrews they can be quite short, actually), external ears and feet that are not adapted for digging. However, unlike shrews and like the other moles, their skulls have full zygomatic arches, (aka cheekbones), which the true shrews lack.

By contrast, the mole shrews are, well, shrews that resemble moles. They consist of representatives of two shrew genera, Anourosorex, which are found in Asia, and Surdisorex, which are found in Africa, (Kenya). They – and especially the Asian species – look more like moles than shrews, but, apparently, they lack the moles’ cheekbones in their skulls, (see above).

The mention of Africa brings us to the golden moles. In many ways, they are similar to the ‘true’ moles, but they are covered in golden-colored fur, (‘true’ moles are much more drab, usually black or dark brown), and they belong to the Afrosoricida order, which includes them and the tenrecs of the Madagascar, instead.

…From the ecological P.O.V., however, they are very much like true moles, save that their arms and especially hands are tougher, because they burrow not through soil, but sand. Consequently, they do not leave visible tunnels, mounds and molehills as ‘true’ moles do. They are also even more sight-deprived than the true moles are, (I think), because sand in the eyes is even more of an irritant than plain old earth is. Anything else?

Australia is a continent apart, which means that it has its own, marsupial moles, which are – proportionally – more closely related to the koalas and kangaroos that we have discussed earlier than to either ‘true’ moles or golden moles. However, these animals, (there are two species of marsupial moles, FYI), belong to their own order, Notoryctemorpha, within the Australian marsupial superorder; all of their true relatives are extinct. Of all the ‘moles’ mentioned here, these strange little marsupials may be the most adapted to a subterranean lifestyle; they are eyeless, while their noses and the fronts of their faces have shovel-like patches on their faces, for better digging through the sandy soil as well. (The African golden moles have them as well).

Pause. The mole may not look like much, and it does not appear in fiction very often – the best case is Andersen’s fairy tale ‘Thumbelina’, where it is a protagonist of sorts. (Was it Disney or someone else who made it into an animated movie in the 20^th century? The Soviets had made it into a cartoon adaptation instead, much more basic out of the two). In non-fiction, moles usually appear in various guides or, more often, in instructions of how to get rid of them from your lawn. Considering that the moles – like their relatives the hedgehogs – are insectivores that usually eat insect pests, this state of affairs is somewhat sad, but that is real life for you. It sucks, (just look at COVID-19).

…Well, this is it for now – see you all soon!

Quarantine entry #48 - May 8

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. The situation with relief regarding the COVID-19 lockdown has grown more vague, as no one knows for real as to how it will occur: every country, (even the next-door neighbours U.S.A. and Canada), is following its’ own schedule and so things are falling apart further.

What things are that? The ‘global village’ dream/utopia of the 2000s/2010s. Yes, things will not go back to the Cold War level either, but whatever will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic will be a very different world from the Pax Americana that had been building since the Cold War ended. Do the Yankees understand that? I have no idea, and the elections-2020 need to be surpassed anyhow, Putin & RF paranoia or not. What next?

…The Asian giant hornet hysteria has died down – apparently, professionals, scientists, etc. have figured out something similar to what we have talked yesterday: that the Asian giant hornet threat may be exaggerated by the COVID-19-related hysteria and paranoia, so let us talk about hedgehogs instead.

Why hedgehogs? My family and I encountered one live back in the old country, before we moved to Canada. It was a medium-sized feral park or a mini-forest – the two concepts are not always as clear-cut in Russia as they are in the West, (especially Europe) – and there we saw it. A good old-fashioned hedgehog, rolled into a spiny, prickly ball not far from some raspberry bushes.

Usually wild hedgehogs roll into spiny, prickly balls as a last means of defense – their spines are shorter, vertical, less barbed than a porcupine’s are, and so, some predators are able to get through them: the eagle-owl’s talons are long, sharp, and hard enough to pierce through the entire hedgehog, while a red fox is cunning enough to bypass the hedgehog’s means of defence – but at that moment in time, there were no predators but us, and the hedgehog wasn’t feeling defensive: it was just asleep. It was curled into a ball and it was snoring. The hedgehog was in the open, it was broad daylight, and so I am guessing that it was either inexperienced or just cocky… or maybe there weren’t any predators in this particular forest, I don’t know; what I do remember is that it took us a few moments to recognize the rolled-up hedgehog for what it was, and then we picked it up.

…If you think that something went horribly wrong then and there, you’d be incorrect: pound for pound, a hedgehog is much smaller and lighter than most Old World porcupines are, as well as the North American porcupine, and much less inclined to use its’ spines for active defence – it uses its’ teeth for that.

…Actually, make it ‘them’ – there are five genera of hedgehogs, and between them, they number about 17 species, less than two dozen. All of them are small to medium mammals that are active mainly at night; they have poor vision, but keen sense of smell, and are anti-social. If porcupines are rodents, then the hedgehogs are insectivores… only now, that mammal order is defunct, and the hedgehogs, in particular, belong to the Eulipotyphla order, which also contains their closest relatives – the shrews and the gymnures.

…Most people know what a shrew looks like – broadly. It looks like a mouse, but with a shorter tail on one end, and a long, proboscis-like snout on the other. A gymnure, on the other hand, looks like… a shrew, but is a bit larger, about the size of a large rat… or the North American, (Virginia) opossum: they are rather obscure mammals and so not much is known about them.

What is known, however, that the mammals of the Eulipotyphla order are a rather primitive bunch: aside from the hedgehogs, shrews, and gymnures, there are several extinct families, as well as the obscure-known venomous mammals called solenodons, and the moles and their relatives, (such as the desmans). Aside from the hedgehogs, (and to a lesser extent – the moles, but we will talk about the moles some other time), they all look like one another, with the shrews being the most basic example.

…As for venom, the solenodons are venomous, and so are some of the shrews at least: their saliva is toxic, maybe not to humans, (though I am fully unsure about the bigger solenodons), but to their prey: all of the mammals of the Eulipotyphla order are meat-eaters.

The hedgehogs, it should be noted, aren’t venomous at all, but they, (or at least, the wild hedgehogs), got a big attitude and a mouthful of sharp teeth to back it up, so if you want to have a pet hedgehog, you should really get one from a special pet store or pet farm or similar – not go and catch one in the wild, especially if you live in the New World, where there are no wild hedgehog species, period.

As for ‘our’ hedgehog, after we caught it and looked at it for a while, (people do not encounter hedgehogs very often, especially in the wild), we just let it go, and away the little critter went, into the raspberry bushes, and we never saw it, or any other hedgehog, again. (As an OT, like their shrew cousins, hedgehogs do not live for very long – they grow up quickly and die almost as quick. Sad, that is).

…Well, this is it for now. See you all soon.