Common mole rat - abstract. Do you know what kind of blind animal this is? Types of underground blinds

Sometimes summer residents, having discovered characteristic piles of earth and complex underground communications on their plots, are sure that there was a mole here. But it could all be to blame common mole rat. What is the difference between him and a mole? They have different appearance and food preferences. Today you will learn how to recognize mole rats, where they live, and how to combat their activity in the garden using effective methods.

This animal causes much more damage to the garden plot than the well-known mole. If moles are only able to make underground passages and form mounds on the surface of the soil, then the common mole rat is able to gnaw on many root crops, the harvest of which will not go to the owners - carrots, beets, potatoes. The mole mole also likes to feed on leaves and stems of crops, and bulbous flowers. For the winter, the animal mole rat makes food reserves, the volume of which in an adult individual can reach 10 kg.

This animal does not tend to hibernate; it simply becomes less active with the arrival of cold weather. Externally, this is an animal up to 30 - 32 cm long. The mole rat has a head slightly reminiscent of a shovel in shape, reduced eyes - in their place there is a fold of skin. The ears and tail of the animal are rather weakly expressed, the body is densely covered with hair.

There are ordinary, Podolsk, Bukovinian, sandy, and giant mole rats.

The giant mole rat is rare species, whose numbers are declining sharply every year.

The giant mole rat is listed in the Red Book of Russia. Its representatives give birth once every 2 years, while most of the young die in the first year of life. The giant mole rat is disappearing due to human activity on the land - plowing, construction of irrigation canals, grazing. IN natural conditions The giant mole rat is found only in semi-deserts located in the northeastern Ciscaucasia. Very rarely it can be seen along the Terek, Sulak, and Kuma rivers.

In terms of color, the sand mole rat occupies an intermediate position between the common, Podolsk and Bukovinian mole rats on the one hand, and the giant mole rat on the other. The sand mole rat is lighter colored.

The back of the head, back and sides of the animal’s body are yellowish-fawn-gray in color. The sand mole rat is a resident of the Lower Dnieper sands of the Kherson region. He likes to settle on poorly moistened soils belonging to the chernozem type. The sand mole rat is most common where wormwood, Ukrainian salsify, field eryngium, pearl cornflower and some other plants grow.

The most common naked species of mole rat is found in our garden plots.

Video “Common mole rat”

From the video you will learn what these animals are.

How is it different from a mole?

The common mole rat, unlike the mole, is larger, and its limbs are five-fingered, with small claws and less developed. The molehill is rather created by powerful teeth, and the earth does not get into the rodent’s mouth, since the folded lips are located behind the scars.

If moles prefer to eat insects, then these animals eat roots, tubers and bulbs. In order to get to the above-ground part of the crops, they carry them by the roots to their home. Most of all the animals like umbelliferous, asteraceae and leguminous plants. Stems and leaves often become their prey in the spring or early summer.

Where does it live?

For its habitat, it most often chooses fields, steppes, forest belts, ravines, and virgin lands.

The mole rat's underground tunnel systems have two tiers. The first is located at a depth of no more than 25 cm from the surface and is food, the second is located at a depth of 3 - 4 meters. The second has nests for living in summer and winter, as well as storage for food supplies.

The mole digs the soil using its front paws, while the naked mole rat uses its strong incisors. The piles of earth are larger than those of moles. The mounds can have a diameter of up to 50 cm, and the earth thrown to the surface sometimes has a mass of no less, but about 10 kg.

A mole rat can cause a lot of harm in a dacha, and its destruction is very difficult, since the animal spends most of its life underground.

Methods, means and traps for combating

The most popular method of control when a mole rat is found on a site is to use strong poisons. They are similar to the poison that allows you to poison rats. Due to the high toxicity of such drugs, it is recommended to install a trap or live trap in the garden. But thanks to their natural intelligence, rodents are able to avoid the place where such traps are installed. Even in case of danger, a small mole rat can show aggression - growl and bare powerful teeth. A live trap or trap should be set when leaving the burrow. There is also a known method of catching animals using a hook.

It is necessary to dig out the norm and insert a long wire with a hook or several hooks inside.

A loop is made at the other end of the wire. It is needed to secure the hook in the hole. If there is a draft, the animal rushes to the exit and gets hooked. Next, the owner decides how to get rid of the mole rat. The use of crossbows, traps and poisons is considered inhumane, so animal lovers prefer to get rid of pests using water and an electronic repeller. Another method is to smoke rodents out of your home by attaching a hose to the exhaust pipe of a car. But it is possible to contaminate the land on the site along the way. An electronic repeller gives a good effect, since the animals cannot tolerate vibration and tend to leave the garden.

Introducing cats to hunting

How to get rid of harmful animals using animals? You must first find the places under which underground animal communications are located. Next, they dig out about half a meter of tunnel with a shovel. As mentioned above, the naked mole rat reacts sharply to a draft. Therefore, having made a hole, you need to wait with the cat for the appearance of a naked animal. It will be especially easy for your pet to catch a young and inexperienced pest. You can also involve a dog with the necessary skills in catching animals on the site.

Using water for fishing

Another method that is not destructive, but helps to catch a rodent, is the use of water. You will need a watering hose and about 10 liters of liquid. After discovering the tunnel that leads to the animal’s home, you should dig a hole near the mound with clay and direct water there. In order for the animals to reach the surface, it is necessary to generously fill the underground passages due to their helical shape. Using this tool, every garden owner will be able to catch uninvited guests from the plot. You will have to decide for yourself how to get rid of them further.

The mole rat does not appear in the garden as often as a mole, for example, or a shrew, but it can cause much more damage to the crop. This rodent is capable of digging long tunnels, where it arranges special places for storing crops grown in the garden.

Getting rid of such a pest is not so easy and fighting it does not always have a positive effect. Sometimes you have to use a whole range of tools.

Few people know that there is also such a pest that can take away a significant part of the harvest from its owners. It is almost impossible to see it on the surface of the ground during such an activity as destroying crops.

Pest information:

The pest can grow up to 30 cm in length.
It has no eyes, but in their place there is a fold of skin, in the upper part of which hard hairs grow.
The tail and ears are not large at all, and the front legs are short.
The animal's fur has a dark gray tint with a blue tint, and adult individuals are distinguished by a characteristic "gray hair".
The pest has powerful front incisors, which help it dig long underground passages. Only the 2 front incisors are clearly distinguishable.
The pest digs long tunnels in several tiers.
The animal's diet includes potatoes, carrots, beets, worms, insects, etc. Loves onions most of all.
When a mole rat appears on a personal plot, it begins to destroy large plants, dragging them into a dug underground passage. After this, he eats the tops and places the root crops in his storage. Sometimes his storage facilities contain up to 50 kg of various root crops.
It is not difficult to detect the presence of the animal if you pay attention to the peculiar mounds that look like the entrance to mole holes. Such mounds can be seen both in the garden and next to it.

Reasons for appearance

This pest, like many others, is looking for something to profit from. Naturally, on a backyard or summer cottage the owners grow everything that is necessary to feed the mole rat. In addition to vegetables, there are worms and enough insects on the site. The higher the yield on the site, the greater the chance that this pest will appear here.

The mole rat does not hibernate during the winter, so it requires a lot of food. It is possible that the pest will definitely settle in the area where the crop is taken care of.

The activity of this pest leaves behind long, several-tiered passages in the garden, as well as underground storerooms in which the animal stores part of the crop grown by the owners in their gardens. As a rule, it eats the green mass first and stores the root crops for the winter. Even one mole rat is capable of taking away a considerable share of the harvest. If several individuals appear on the site, then you can forget about high yields of crops such as potatoes, onions, beets and carrots.

In addition, it digs quite large tunnels, with a diameter of 5 to 15 cm, due to which it damages some plants in the area. The lower tiers can be located at a depth of up to 3 meters, and the upper ones - at a depth of 10 cm. Such a system of underground passages often does not allow the normal development of many cultivated plants.

How to get rid of mole rats on your property

Those who had to fight this rodent drew attention to the fact that the mole rat burrows quite deep into the ground, which complicates the fight against it. As already mentioned, the animal can burrow 3 meters deep, so in order to get it, you will have to dig up the entire area. In this regard, many owners are thinking about how to get rid of the animal in order to save the harvest. As you can see, the price of the issue is quite significant.

Experienced gardeners have tried a lot of methods and figured out how to get rid of such an unnecessary neighborhood. And here the most important thing is not to show excessive humanity, since several individuals with their cubs can deprive the owner of the harvest, especially since mole rats reproduce quite quickly.

Traps are used to combat many rodents, including mole rats. But first, it’s better to determine who is spoiling the crop so that the effect of installing traps is maximum.

For effective fight the following steps should be taken:

First of all, you need to carefully examine the area to find the entrance to the hole.
In this place you need to dig a hole well so that the mole rats have a draft. A depression is made near the main entrance at a distance of 50 cm and a trap is installed. The top of the trap is covered with plywood.
Since the pest is afraid of a draft, it will crawl out of the hole to cover it. As a result, the animal falls into a trap.

Some owners tear up the soil and place containers with water inside multi-tiered passages, as a result of which the mole rats cannot get out. This is a rather labor-intensive process, since you have to dig deep into the soil. In addition, it is not always possible to obtain the desired result.

Note! There is one but effective way getting rid of such a neighborhood. To do this, you need to take a rag, soak it in gasoline, kerosene and other foul-smelling substances, and bury this rag in the ground at various depths. In addition, animals react negatively to essential oils plants such as eucalyptus, cedar, lavender and others.

Thanks to the rapid development of electronics, science and technology, it has been possible to create modern devices that emit ultrasonic waves of various frequencies. Humans do not perceive these waves, but many animals and rodents react negatively to ultrasound. Sound waves in this range cause a feeling of fear in rodents, as a result of which they begin to panic and try to leave the uncomfortable area as quickly as possible. Not much time passes, and the rodents leave this area in search of more comfortable conditions for their life.

For effective control it is necessary to install several such devices. In this case, it makes no sense to install any additional traps. Ultrasonic repellers will operate throughout the entire area. They will help get rid of pests even if a good, promising crop for rodents is ripening on the site. Such devices will help the owner get rid of other pests, not just mole rats. Moles, shrews, mole crickets and other pests cannot tolerate ultrasound. The main thing is to choose the right devices in terms of power so that they protect the entire area.

Do-it-yourself repellent devices

In the process of fighting this voracious animal, it was found that he is afraid of noise. If loud sounds are constantly present in the area, then the pest tries to leave this area.

For implementation this method struggle, you will need metal rods up to 1 meter long. To these rods, any accessible ways tin cans of beer or condensed milk are attached. Under the influence of the wind, they will make quite loud sounds, which may not please not only mole rats, but also neighbors.

The common mole rat is completely devoid of vision, instead it has tactile hairs, a well-developed sense of smell and hearing. This animal is quite enough for normal life, during which he almost never sees sunlight. For many land owners, 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, a short neck, paws and tail, and a 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.

The short, soft fur of mole rats usually looks like a mixture of brown, gray and brown shades in varying proportions, sometimes with 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, Bukovinian and Podolsk mole rats.

IN 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. The Red Book of the International Union for Conservation has it in its lists. In view of this, catching animals in certain areas is 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 of food supplies must be prepared for 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. The 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 is 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 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.

Pest animal

Branched underground labyrinths are perfect for the life of mole rats, but can cause anxiety for humans. If a garden or personal plot becomes the habitat of this rodent, you can say goodbye to the lion's share of 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 a common mole rat appears on a personal plot - 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 out their four-legged neighbor using smoke, pouring kerosene or fetid 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. Its underground life with nocturnal activity means that few people know of its existence. Many would prefer never to know about the existence of such underground inhabitant, instead of seeing how it destroys the crops growing on the site.

Mole rats (Spalacidae)- a family of medium-sized rodents with a small number of species (the weight of the largest does not exceed 800-900 g). In the course of evolution, mole rats (Spalax) adapted to an exclusively underground lifestyle in steppe and semi-desert areas with fairly rich vegetation. Among the representatives life form The “root-eater” mole rat is distinguished by the fact that its eyes have completely lost the ability to see. This is the only case of loss of vision in the order of rodents and the second among all mammals (another blind person is the marsupial mole living in Australia).

Mole rats dig long (up to 900 m), branched underground passages in several tiers up to 3-4 m deep. Upper galleries, where the animals live in summer period, serve to collect food (rhizomes, bulbs, tubers). In the lower tier there is a wintering chamber and storerooms with plant parts carefully laid out and covered with earth. When digging, rodents use powerful incisors, acting like an excavator bucket. The earth is pushed out with a shovel-shaped head. The nose of mole rats is covered with keratinized skin that protects from mechanical damage. In addition, such a nose is convenient for compacting the walls of burrows.

The incisors of mole rats, like those of all rodents, self-sharpen when gnawing, but this is not enough for rootworms: they also sharpen their teeth against each other. The structural features of the lower jaw and muscles allow mole rats to spread their lower incisors and move them back and forth by moving the blade one against the other.

One animal, who lived in captivity for a long time, achieved true skill in sharpening teeth. His home was an ordinary aquarium, the metal frame of which the mole rat learned to use. He stood on his hind legs, rested his upper incisors against the edge of the metal side, and literally gnawed it with his lower incisors. The mole rat used the glass walls of the aquarium to finely polish the sharp edge of its incisors. One can imagine the “grinding of teeth” that accompanied this procedure every time!

The special “sophistication” of sharpening and grinding the incisors of mole rats is due to the fact that it is with their incisors that they dig their extended burrows. This leads to rapid wear of the cutting surfaces and, accordingly, to the need rapid growth the incisors themselves. In captivity, the mole rat is forced to wear down its incisors on its own. If this is not done, then within a few days they will grow to such a size that the animal will not be able to close its mouth.

It is rare to see mole rats due to their secretive lifestyle. Many people mistake them for moles (even in areas where moles do not live), deceived by the appearance of the characteristic cone-shaped soil emissions, reminiscent of moles in shape.

In Russia, mole rats live in the forest-steppe and steppe from the border with Ukraine to the Volga - for example, the common mole rat (Spalax microphtalmus), and they are most numerous in the Kursk, Voronezh and Rostov regions. The largest species of this family is found in Dagestan - the giant mole rat (S. giganteus). In the second half of the 20th century, as a result of the plowing of almost all lands favorable for mole rats, the number of these rodents decreased, and in a number of areas they disappeared completely.

The small mole rat is a representative of mole rats. In some areas of our country, small mole rats are called blind women. These rodents are often found with the prefix "Nanno", which translates to dwarf. The animals are also called white-toothed mole rats.

Description of the Lesser Mole Rat

These small animals have a body length of 15 to 24 centimeters. The body shape is cylindrical. Appearance The small mole rat is attractive - it has a soft light gray coat and small paws with claws. The coat color on the back may be brown.

Instead of eyes, this rodent has only a thick fold of skin covered with small hairs. The mouth contains long incisors.

The blind woman is completely different from the mole, which also lives underground. Its dimensions are much smaller, it can fit in a human palm, and the digging organs of a mole rat are completely different.

Moles dig tunnels underground using their modified limbs, and mole rats use their wide front incisors as digging tools. The mole rat has a fold on its lip that covers the opening of its mouth; thanks to this fold, soil does not get into the animal’s mouth when it digs holes. There is a similar fold near the nose.

The mole rat has no tail. In addition, they lack ears, but they have excellent hearing. Characteristic feature The small mole rat has a low skull and low-lying zygomatic arches, which become narrower towards the middle.

Lifestyle of the Lesser Mole Rat

Thanks to the cylindrical shape of the body, blind women move well underground. While digging the soil, the mole rat's incisors are sharpened. The lower jaw has such a structure that the mole rat can easily spread its lower teeth, moving them back and forth, which also ensures good sharpening. When a mole rat digs the soil, its incisors work like an excavator, throwing out excess soil, resulting in the formation of a passage. The mole rat then turns around and pushes the earth out of the tunnel with its head.

These animals, leading an underground life, have completely reduced visual function, but they have excellent hearing and a well-developed sense of smell, thanks to this they are excellent at navigating their burrows.

These are excellent diggers, capable of digging holes whose depth is about 4 meters. Moves can be created in several floors. The tunnel network can be very extensive.

Small mole rats practically do not appear on the surface of the earth; they can only get out of their holes at night. In dug holes, mole rats store food supplies, live in them and raise offspring. The upper tunnels are used to store supplies that are planned to be eaten immediately, and the tunnels below are used as a refrigerator pantry. In such chambers, reserves do not freeze even during severe winters, since they are located quite deep under a large layer of earth.

In winter, small mole rats remain awake, active day and night. These diggers feed on plant bulbs, root crops, and potato tubers. Small mole rats are real hard workers, the volume of their reserves is amazing - one individual can stock up on 20 kilograms of food.

Mole rat habitats

Initially, mole rats lived in the steppes, but then they colonized meadows, arable lands and fields. They are also found in the mountains; in mountainous areas they were found at altitudes of up to 2400 meters. These rodents happily settle on the edges of forests, where bulbous plants and perennial grasses grow.

Blind blind people are most often found in Western Ukraine: Lvov, Ciscaucasia, Kyiv and Mordovia. They also live in Asia Minor and Libya.

Reproduction of blind women

Lesser mole rats are solitary animals. The network of tunnels of one individual does not connect with the burrows of another.

Individuals of different sexes are found exclusively during the breeding season. The mating season for small mole rats begins in the spring and continues until summer. But today scientists do not know how blind women find partners and create pairs.

Mole rats give birth to offspring once a year. One female can have up to 6 cubs in a litter, but, as a rule, 3-4 babies are born. A blind woman feeds her offspring for 4 weeks.