Common mole rat (subfamily Spalacinae), one of eight species of burrowing rodents found in the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. Among several rodents called "mole rats" (see Zokor), the common mole rat is one of the most interesting in shape, having an oblique, cylindrical body, short limbs and prominent cutting teeth. The legs and claws are surprisingly small for such a highly specialized body.
Description of the animal
Mole rats appear eyeless and deaf as a mole, since the functioning remains of these body parts are covered with fur and are therefore not visible. The tiny eyes are hidden under the skin, and the outer ears are reduced to small folds. Sensory bristles extending posteriorly from the flattened, soft nose to the eyes give the head a knee-shaped wedge shape. Like the eyes and ears, part of the remainder of the tail is not visible from the outside.
Mole rats are medium-sized, ranging from 100 to 570 grams (3.5 oz to 1.3 lb), with lengths ranging from 13 to 35 cm (5.1 to 13.8 in). The dense, soft fur may be pale to reddish brown or gray on upper parts; The lower parts are grayish or brown. The front of the head is usually paler than the back and may have white or yellow stripes that may extend down the sides of the head or run down the middle from the nose to the forehead.
Territorially isolated and solitary, the common mole rat excavates a network of burrows by digging with its incisors, pushing the weakened soil under its belly from the front, and then striking behind it with its hind legs. When enough soil has accumulated, it turns like a mole to pack the tunnel wall with its stiff snout and uses its head to bulldoze excess debris through the tunnel and onto the surface. The resulting mounds indicate tunnels 10–25 cm below the ground in which the rodent searches for food.
Like the mole, the diet consists mainly of roots, tubers and bulbs, but the animal sometimes emerges at night to feed on seeds and green plant parts. In the tunnels, vertical passages connect shallow burrows into deeper corridors where separate chambers are built for nesting, food storage and excrement.
During the wet fall and winter, females build large mounds containing chambers where mating occurs and the young are raised. Like the mole, the mole rat's pregnancy takes about a month, and the litter size ranges from one to five.
Common mole rat- this is an eccentric creature that is neither a mole nor a rat. The mole rat is a rodent that is closely related to porcupines and guinea pigs. This unusual animal lives in East Africa. It can be found in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The mole rat lives in arid areas and deserts. The common mole rat lives in southeastern Europe, Turkey, Middle East and Eastern North Africa off the coast Mediterranean Sea. Some species also extend east to the Caspian Sea.
Habitats suffer from people this moment), and their population, previously considered large and stable, in wildlife decreases. Mole rats are not yet on the list of endangered species. These rodents prefer sandy or loamy soils of steppes, slopes, forests, meadows, pastures, gardens and cultivated fields in areas that receive at least 10 cm of annual precipitation.
The evolutionary history of mole rats in the Mediterranean is represented by fossils extending from 17 to 19 million years to the Early Miocene Epoch (23.8 million to 16.4 million years ago).
The tiny animal is actively working all year round. It lives mostly underground or deep in a cave that it digs. In addition to using the incisors to chew food, roots and tubers, teeth are constantly growing and need to be polished to keep them sharp and highly functional.
Common mole rat in the CIS
Types of mole rats in the CIS.
- common blind man- Spalacinae
- Bukovina mole rat - Spalax graecus
Common blind man - Spalacinae
In its own way, the common blind man is believed to actually fill an area that is less than 2,000 square kilometers. It is assumed that in the area of his disappearance in Chechnya, the cause is Civil War, which drove the animal out of its habitat. It also suffers in other places where its habitat is encroached upon due to overgrazing, plowing, irrigation and increasing soil salinity. In Dagestan, it is believed that the population will decline to approximately 10,000 individuals.
Bukovina mole rat - Spalax graecus
Complete scientific name type: Spalax graecus Nehring, 1898. Other names of the species: Greek mole rat. One of 5 modern species genus, one of four species of the genus in the fauna of Ukraine (Topachevsky 1969).
Biological characteristics. Typical biotopes- areas of residual virgin lands, pastures, hayfields, ravine slopes and forest edges, as well as field roadsides, shelterbelts, household plots and fields with crops cultivated plants. The mole rat is a highly specialized mole rat that lives in long (up to 200 m) branched burrows. The area of individual plots ranges from 90 (for young people) to 250 square meters. m (Yangolenko 1961).
The nesting chamber is predominantly single, lined with dry grasses; storerooms are located at a depth of up to 1.5 m. It feeds on roots in the diet of more than 50 species of plants; winter reserves range from 0.5 to 12 kg (usually 1-4 kg of reserves), consumes food per day, equal to the body weight of the mole rat. Sexual maturity occurs in the third year of life. At the beginning of the year (January-March), the female gives birth to 2-3 babies, and already in May the young begin to live independently (Yangolenko and Filipchuk 1990).
Geographical distribution. Areal endemic. On the territory of Ukraine it is found only in the territory of Bukovina within two districts of the Chernivtsi region. - Storozhinetsky and Golubitsky (Yangolenko, 1959, 1966). Also distributed in Romania (Hamar 1974).
Assessment of the state of populations. The current size of the Ukrainian population is estimated at 1.5 thousand individuals. The density of mole rats in their places of residence averages 0.2-0.4 individuals per hectare, rarely 4-10 people. / Ha (ibid.). A factor of vulnerability and a decrease in the total number of the species is the intensive economic activity humans, including plowing virgin soil, using pesticides and mineral fertilizers and etc.
Security measures. Special measures The species does not require protection. The species is included in the European (1991) Red List and in Appendix II of the Berne Convention. The species has a conservation category according to the Red Book of Ukraine (Filipchuk 1994). It is protected on the territory of the national reserve “Tsetsin”, in the Chernivtsi region. To save the view you must provide protective status new areas where biotopes are typical for the species and places of residence of this species have been identified.
Appearance
Relatively large rodent- body length of adult individuals is 20-32 cm, weight up to 700 grams or more. The body is elongated, cylindrical, without a pronounced neck. The limbs are greatly shortened, the tail is reduced and hidden under the skin. The head is flattened, wide (wider than any part of the body), and shaped from above to the bayonet of a shovel. The eyes are largely reduced and hidden under the skin. The outer ear is presented in the form of a small cushion hidden under the fur. The nasal section is covered with a bare horny sheath and is usually colored black or brown. The front incisors are large, protruding far beyond oral cavity and clearly visible. The general color of the fur is fawn-gray-brown; there is significant variability in color between individual individuals.
Spreading
Lifestyle
The animal leads an exclusively underground lifestyle, coming to the surface in in rare cases. Creates an extended, highly branched system of burrows, consisting, as a rule, of two tiers, of which the most extensive is the upper “feeding” one, lying at a depth of about 20-25 cm. In addition to the feeding tier, it creates a system of summer and winter nests, as well as food storage facilities, connected by a second, deeper (up to 3-4 meters) tier of passages. When digging tunnels, the mole rat loosens the soil with the help of incisors, then discards it with its paws and subsequently moves it to the soil surface, where characteristic so-called. “Mole rats” are heaps of discarded earth of significant size (about 50 cm in diameter, the weight of discarded earth in one mole rat is about 10 kg). The feeding area of one adult individual is 0.02-0.09 hectares, the length of feeding passages varies widely and can be up to 450 meters or more per individual.
Population densities also vary widely, reaching 20 or more individuals per hectare. In a long-term context, the population density is quite stable and is not subject to sharp fluctuations. The optimal population density is 3 individuals per hectare; if the population drops to 1.8-1.1 individuals per hectare, there is a high risk of population degradation. A change in population size is possible with a significant change in conditions external environment, in particular, negative impact are caused by droughts, periods of increased moisture, as well as plowing of land. The common mole rat is a strictly herbivorous animal; its diet is based on rhizomes, bulbs and tubers of plants. In spring and early summer, the above-ground parts of plants (stems and leaves) are also actively used for food. The range of forage plants consists of several dozen species, among which Compositae, Umbelliferae and legumes predominate. By winter, the animal makes large (more than 10 kg) reserves.
The mole rat is active all year round and does not hibernate, although by winter its activity sharply decreases. On a daily basis, they are most active at night and in the afternoon. Adult individuals live separately, showing strong aggression towards relatives (if it is impossible to retreat, collisions usually end fatal). At the same time, the population has a certain social structure, consisting of family groups (male and 1-2 females), the burrows of which are connected or located nearby. Family groups are stable and disintegrate only with the death of one of the partners. About half of the males live outside family groups, thus being excluded from the breeding process. Mole rats live quite a long time for rodents, average duration generation is 2.5-4 years, some individuals live up to 9 years. The survival rate of young animals is high, about half or more of the individuals.
Reproduction
Only one female breeds in a family group each year; if there are two females in the group, then in the spring the male leaves the area of the breeding female and forms a pair with the female who will breed next year. Cubs are born from late February to mid-May. There are 2-3 cubs in a litter. The main reproductive contribution is made by females aged 3-7 years. From the end of May, the settlement of young animals from broods begins, partly on the surface, partly underground, the settlement continues until autumn. Young males predominantly settle in the second year of life and mainly underground, females - in the first year and often on the surface, which leads to greater mortality of females in the first year of life. The dispersal range varies from several tens to several hundred meters.
Natural enemies
Relationships with a person
It can harm agricultural crops, especially in vegetable gardens and personal plots (potatoes, carrots, onions and bulbous flowers are most affected). Damages crops of corn, legumes, and woody plants (eats germinating seeds and young plants). Soil emissions can make it difficult to carry out field work (especially mechanized mowing of perennial grasses for hay), and also spoil field roads. Due to the underground way of life, the fight against the animal is difficult (mainly mechanical traps and repellent devices are used) and is often ineffective.
Notes
Links
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See what “Common mole rat” is in other dictionaries:
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Mole rat or blind man- champion in digging among rodents (and they are all excellent diggers). People often confuse it with, but they are completely different animals. Let's start with the fact that the mole is an insectivorous animal, and the mole rat is a rodent. The only thing they have in common is their habitat - both live underground.
The mechanics of digging their own passages also differ from the mole. The mole rat digs the ground with its incisors (front teeth) strongly protruding forward. Or rather, he fluffs up the earth with them and then pushes them to the surface. To prevent soil from getting into the mouth, nature designed the mole rat's lips in such a way that they close the mouth behind the incisors. Thanks to this, during “work” the animal’s mouth is tightly closed.
Mole rats They dig the ground without coming to the surface, and at any time of the day and at any time of the year. Its presence is revealed only by the heaps of earth on the surface that it leaves behind, the number of which depends on the density of the soil. In search of food - roots, bulbs, etc., the mole rat digs its tunnels close to the surface. The total length of such tunnels is often more than 200 meters.
But to give birth to offspring, a mole rat can burrow to a depth of 3.5 meters. Females can give birth up to three times a year depending on climatic conditions and availability of food. It must be said that mole rats live from North Africa to the Trans-Urals. IN northern regions Siberia is already dominated by zokors, relatives of the mole rat, but more about them next time.
The common mole rat is completely devoid of vision, instead it has tactile hairs, well developed sense of smell and hearing. This is enough for the animal to live a normal life, during which it almost never sees sunlight. For many owners land plots The mole rat has become a real punishment, because it is capable of digging up the entire planting area and even affecting the stability of the buildings located there.
Few people have seen common mole rats in person due to their lifestyle. They rarely come to the surface, and their activity increases with the onset of darkness. So many people have to get some idea of the size and lifestyle of the animal only from the traces it leaves. To help those who want to know how the common mole rat lives and looks, here are photos and stories from biologists.
Description of the common mole rat
The maximum length of these rodents reaches 32 cm, and their weight is 700 g. They have an elongated body in the shape of a cylinder, short neck, paws and tail and head flattened at the top. The animals' ears are barely noticeable, and their eyes are hidden under the skin and completely atrophied. The color of different individuals may have some differences.
Short soft wool mole rats usually look like a mixture of brown, gray and brown shades in different proportions, sometimes there are light spots on the head and body. The rodent is usually colored black. When first meeting a mole rat, the upper and lower incisors that are pushed far forward are striking.
Where do common mole rats live?
For permanent habitat, the common mole rat usually chooses a steppe or forest-steppe. He likes to settle near beams, along roads dividing fields, and forest roads. It can be found in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. In the northern part of its range, the common mole rat is considered rare, although it is the most common species of its genus, which also includes sandy, giant, Bukovina and Podolsk mole rats.
At the moment, the conservation of the species' numbers is threatened by land plowing, measures to improve the properties of the land and plant protection. Meanwhile, it cannot be said that this type is on the verge of extinction. The relevant organizations are concerned only about the conservation of populations in some northern and southern zones, where the common mole rat lives. Red Book International Union security has him on their lists. In view of this, catching animals in certain areas prohibited, and human activities in their indigenous habitats are limited.
How do common mole rats live?
An ordinary mole rat, briefly speaking, spends its entire life, which is an average of 2.5-4 years, underground, digging complex systems tunnels and obtains food. Most of all, the animal loves the roots, tubers and bulbs of plants, but it can also feast on stems and leaves. About 10 kg food supplies it is necessary to prepare the mole rat for the winter. At this time of year, its vital activity noticeably decreases, but the rodent does not hibernate.
The optimal number of common mole rats is 3 individuals per hectare, but this number can reach up to 20. With the help of sharp incisors and paws, the animals dig through a branched two-tier system of burrows. The upper tier lies at a depth of 20-25 cm, and the lower one, where the mole rat forms galleries for nesting and storing food supplies, is at a depth of 3-4 m. External holes are not permanent, but are formed only in order to bring dug up earth to the surface .
How the animal reproduces
The social structure of common mole rats is family groups, which includes one male and one or two females. If there are two females, they take turns giving birth every other year. Mating occurs in the spring, and a brood of 2-3 cubs can be born from February to May. Half of the males live separately and do not produce offspring.
The dispersal of young animals occurs over a distance of tens or hundreds of meters. Females do this in the first year of life, climbing to the surface, which explains their high mortality rate. Most often they are the object of hunting by birds of prey and foxes. Males separate from their mother a year later, without leaving the bowels of the earth. The main underground enemy of common mole rats is the steppe polecat.
Animal pest
Branched underground labyrinths are perfect for the life of mole rats, but can cause anxiety for humans. If a garden or garden plot becomes the habitat of this rodent, the lion's share you can say goodbye to the harvest. Most likely, the animal will like carrots, potatoes and onions. He may also like onion flowers, legumes, corn and young trees.
Endless piles of dug up earth, subsidence of the soil, sudden disappearance of planted crops and even small trees - this is what people observe when a common mole rat settles on their plot of land. The description of his sabotage can be continued for a long time, and stopping them is an impossible task for many.
How to drive away a mole rat
Only one question arises when personal plot There is a mole rat infestation - how to get rid of the pest? For many, this becomes an overwhelming task. After all, the animal constantly hides in the ground and its presence, creating new mounds and destroying planted plants, only at night.
It is best to try to create conditions so that the animal leaves on its own. land plot. A lot of ways have been invented for this, but none of them guarantees that the animal will escape forever. But it’s still worth making every effort to get rid of the mole rat without shedding its blood.
One commonly used method is to flood its tunnel with water. But this may require too much water, since the animal’s underground passages are very branchy. But if the soil quickly absorbs moisture, this method is completely useless. Some try to smoke four-legged neighbor using smoke, pouring kerosene or foul-smelling mixtures into the hole. Another way is to create constant noise in the area where it lives, which the common mole rat cannot tolerate. As an option, you can use an ultrasonic repeller.
Radical ways to get rid of mole rats
When it is not possible to drive away a mole rat, some resort to a more radical measure - murder. To do this, you can watch for the animal by opening one of its passages. He does not like drafts, so he will definitely want to cover the hole with earth. As soon as he gets close, it will be possible to destroy him.
Another way is to make a hole in the hole and place a trap in it so that the mole rat falls into it on the way to the open opening. It is important that the trap does not have a human smell, for which it is worth rubbing it with potatoes or earth. You can use poison to kill rodents. But if there is something to eat on the site, the rodent may not covet the poisoned food.
The common mole rat is a rodent that few people have seen alive. An underground life with nocturnal activity has meant that few people know of its existence. Many would prefer never to know about the existence of such an underground inhabitant, instead of seeing how he destroys the crops growing on the site.
Fauna is rich various types animals that are similar to each other in a number of characteristics. But there are also completely different representatives of families, who are very often confused. These include the mole and the mole rat. Both animals lead an underground lifestyle and have some similarities in appearance. But the difference between a mole rat and a mole is obvious - they belong to different orders of animals. The mole and mole rat lead a life hidden from prying eyes and are rarely discovered. Therefore, during their infrequent appearance on the surface of the earth, people do not manage to look at them carefully. A quick glance at these animals allows you to see very similar features. This is the reason why they are constantly confused.
Interspecific differences
The main difference between the two animals is interspecific. belongs to the group of insectivores and is a predator. The length of its body rarely exceeds 20 cm. The streamlined shape of the body allows it to quickly move through narrow tunnels. The mole rat spends his entire adult life searching for food. includes the following insects:
- earthworms and earthworms;
- larvae, beetles;
- larvae and other insects.
The activities of mole rats in the garden or garden have more serious consequences for humans:
- damaged lawns and flower beds;
- damaged roots of plants and garden trees;
- destruction of root crops (potatoes, beets, carrots);
- damage to bulbs of cultivated plants.
Such a detrimental effect on plantings leads to a significant reduction in yield. Land owners have every reason to do so at any cost. General negative attitude to burrowing animals may have become the reason that they are often confused.
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