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- Mole cub
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- Diet nutrition
A mole baby is perceived much nicer than baby rat, mouse, although they look very much like them. In the dictionary, the offspring of moles are called in plural molehills, alone - molehill, molehill. Females are not very fertile; they give only one litter per season. Kids quickly grow up and after 2 months they become independent.
Appearance
A photo of a mole cub at different stages of maturation is presented below. Outwardly - a pretty nice creature that is not scared to pick up.
A newborn mole is naked, blind, toothless, completely helpless, weighing about 3 g. Babies have excellent appetite, quickly gain weight. After a week, the body becomes covered with a soft yellow fluff, eyes open. At the age of one month, young offspring is compared in size with adult moles, reaching sizes of 16 cm, tail about 4 cm, weight up to 120 g.
On a note!
What a mole cub looks like depends on the period of growing up. In the first week, the appearance is not too attractive - a pink body, lack of hair. After 2 weeks, the animals turn into cute creatures with soft, short fur, small round eyes, large front paws.
Breeding season
Moles lead a hidden lifestyle, spend most of the time underground. Only during the mating season they crawl out of their shelters in search of a partner. Fights often arise between males for the right to own a female.
The mating season begins in early spring, lasts 2 months - April, May. The pregnancy of the female lasts 30-45 days. Cubs appear in June, July. Very rarely, a female gives a second offspring per season. In one litter, 3 to 9 are molefoot.
Nutrition
Females are caring mothers who are anxiously caring for their cubs. Initially, moles eat milk, quickly gain weight, develop. In about a month, teeth grow, claws grow, cubs switch to solid food - grain, seeds, roots, insects, earthworms.
At the age of 1.5-2 months, the cubs become independent, are able to kill a mouse, a frog, a snake. Matured youngsters behave aggressively towards each other, after 60 days of their existence, each of them begins to build his own burrows with numerous mazes.
Interesting!
During the day, the animal plows with its paws about 45 m of soil. Eats in one day the amount of food equal to its own weight. Constantly in search of food, makes numerous supplies. By the number of tubercles with a mound of soil above the ground, one can determine the trajectory of the burrow.
The mole calf is fed several times a day. Food is digested for approximately 5 hours. Between breaks in food, the animal sleeps in a special "room" curled up in a ball.
Main diet:
- earthworms;
- caterpillars;
- wood lice;
- beetle larvae;
- slugs;
- snails;
- the little bears;
- spiders
- millipedes.
Occasionally, vertebrates that are in a sedentary state are eaten - mice, lizards, snakes, frogs. In a hungry state, the animal can survive no more than 17 hours.
Life span
In the wild, the mole lives from 2 to 5 years. The maturity period is only 2 months. Under the ground, enemies of animals are extremely few, so almost all cubs survive.Unlike mice, female moles give only one litter per season; pregnancy lasts 10 days longer. This feature allows females to maintain their own health, the birth of babies does not deprive her of vitality. Life expectancy of females does not differ from males. The natural enemies of young and adult moles are cats, dogs, foxes, wolves, hedgehogs.
