How to distinguish a shrew from a mole

How to determine whether a shrew or mole settled on the site, it is possible by the appearance of the animal, its burrows. Animals belong to the same class of insectivores; they harm cultures only by digging numerous moves. Mole and shrew do not belong to pests with which it is necessary to conduct merciless the fight, but it’s worth scaring away from your site.

Appearance of animals - direct evidence

You can distinguish a mole from a shrew in appearance, but the whole difficulty is that they practically do not crawl out of the holes, dwell underground or appear at night. Moles, shrews are selected outside during the mating period - April, May, and also after 2 months of their life to equip a new hole, to find a suitable place.

• Mole Description. A rodent with a body weight of not more than 120 g and a length of about 20 cm. Has a short, thick, soft coat of shiny black color. Small tail no more than 4 cm. The muzzle is oblong, the nose is clearly visible. Eyes are small round, ears covered with skin. A distinctive feature is the wide forepaws with long claws. Such "equipment" allows animals to easily dig earth, build numerous moves in depth, width. The hind limbs of animals throw the earth, throw them out of the hole, form the molehills mounds.
• Description of the shrew. The rodent looks like a small mouse. Body length no more than 20 cm. Short, soft, velvet, fluffy gray coat. Unlike the mouse, it does not have pronounced ears, the muzzle is significantly elongated forward. It differs from a mole in the absence of spade-shaped limbs, with a long tail of about 12 cm. The eyes are small, barely noticeable, the abdomen and legs are light.

A photo of a mole and a shrew is presented below. If succeeded to catch or see the animal in its area, you can accurately determine who is who.

Interesting!

Often, shrews, moles are hunted by domestic cats. They skillfully catch prey, but they are not in a hurry to eat it. A hungry cat can gnaw a mole, but the shrew will leave its competitors without much regret. A specific mouse emits a special enzyme with a strong unpleasant odor that repels predators. Do not disdain only owls, ferrets, weasel, fox.

Burrow structure - indirect evidence

Animals lead a hidden lifestyle, it is very difficult to notice them on the surface of the earth. The presence of pests is determined by embankments above the ground.

Moles dig numerous passages in depth up to 2 m, 4 m wide and more. An animal plows up to 45 m of soil per day. The upper passages are intended for hunting. In the labyrinths, animals look for bugs, earthworms, snails, caterpillars, larvae of the May beetle. Less often moles feed root vegetables, roots, seeds, as well as small mice, snakes, lizards, frogs.

One can distinguish a mole’s hole from a shrew by large mounds of loosened soil above the surface of the earth. By the number of such tubercles, the number of pests is judged. They appear more often in the garden, where the soil is moist, there is a shadow from the trees. In early spring, you can notice traces of life in the garden.

A shrew builds labyrinths underground with several entrances, exits, but does not leave mounds on the surface. A distinctive feature is the holes in the ground - deep holes. Often, an animal simply occupies ready-made labyrinths, previously built by rats, mice, hamsters, and moles.

On a note!

Shrews and moles are insectivorous animals, do more good than harm (although with them land owners are fighting), which can not be said about their relative - mole rat. This underground resident is constantly underground, eats plant foods, looks like a miniature beaver due to its large long teeth.