“Jeez," he says, "I’d better get back to work. What genes and molecules allow the star to develop, and how does its brain so greatly amplify the touch signals coming from its no? The mole doesn’t hibernate in the winter, so how does it keep its sensitive star working when it dives into ice-cold water?Īll of these questions require a scientist dedicated to the bizarre-and who isn't afraid to get wet. More Mole MysteriesĬatania has many mole mysteries he’d still like to solve-can they feel detailed textures with a single touch of their rays? Working with Catania, Bautista discovered molecules in the mole’s star that help turn a physical force-whether it's the brush of a feather or the prick of a needle-into the electrical signals that are the currency of the nervous system.īecause many of these molecules are found in people, too, such understanding might lead to new treatments for pain. Its exquisite snout may have evolved to help it quickly scarf down lots of tiny soft-bodied prey in its waterlogged environment. The star-nosed is the only mole species-there are 39-that lives in swamps and marshes. Digging for moles in their underground burrows in a wetland was hard work, she says. When Bautista called Catania out of the blue asking to collaborate, he insisted that she go mole-collecting with him in rural Pennsylvania. “Compared to the other senses, we know very little about our sense of touch,” says neuroscientist Diana Bautista, who studies pain and itch at the University of California, Berkeley. Each time the mole presses its star to the soil, it creates essentially a star-shaped view of its surroundings, and these images come together in its brain like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The evolutionary history of moles starts in the Eocene Epoch in Europe. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Ĭatania has discovered that a giant star pattern that mirrors the mole's strange nose is imprinted right into the brain’s anatomy. Mole - Burrowing, Nocturnal, Talpidae: The 17 genera of true moles are classified in three subfamilies (Talpinae, Uropsilinae, and Desmaninae) of the family Talpidae (order Soricimorpha), part of the insectivore group. “We can learn so much from that diversity.” (See " Moles Smell in Stereo to Find Food, Dodge Predators.")įor instance, studying touch in the mole’s sensitive nose has revealed clues to how touch works at the molecular level.
“Evolution has solved a lot of problems in a lot of different ways,” he says. Most biologists study a relative handful of species, and some even frown upon students picking a "pet." But Catania makes a case for studying the world’s weirdos, creatures whose amped-up abilities reveal something about how the rest of us work.
Getting in TouchĪs the world’s leading expert on the star-nosed mole, Catania is something of an oddity himself. On Thursday, Catania will present three decades' worth of research at the Experimental Biology annual meeting in Chicago, part of a symposium on the world’s most extreme anatomy. In fact, he used the word 10 times in describing them. “If I’m using the word 'amazing' a lot, it’s because I really feel that way about them,” says. These are just a sampling of incredible facts about the star-nosed mole, says Ken Catania, a neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. (See “ Learn to Smell Underwater with the Star-Nosed Mole.”) If you find many of them in your garden, it would be best to call an exterminator because they know how big the infestation is, making sure they are exterminated efficiently.World's Deadliest: Is This the World's Weirdest-Looking Killer?Īnd it’s one of two animals in the world known to smell underwater, by blowing air bubbles and sucking them back into its nose. Many types like strychnine, warfarin, cholecalciferol (vitamin D3), bromethalin (chocolate), zinc phosphide, anticoagulants, and others can kill voles. This is why moles have such small eyes and poor sight: they have. We can use chemical poisons, but it is best to use herbal ones because they are not harmful to animals and humans. Moles are a typical example of an animal that is nocturnal, meaning it lives at night.
The species is found in a variety of habitats. A solitary, nocturnal animal, the Virginia opossum is an omnivore whose diet includes insects, small vertebrates, eggs, and carrion. They are blind (their eyes are non-functional and found under the skin) and lack external ears. It will also help if we put some bait around the grounds. Marsupial moles have numerous adaptations for living underground. We must water the land and keep it moist, and if we find any holes in our yard or fields, we should fill it with dirt or sod. We must also use copper wiring to deter them from getting near your vegetable garden.
To avoid them, we need to put wire mesh around our plants and fruit trees. In addition, they burrow holes under the ground, which can make it difficult to walk in certain areas. Voles and gophers are rodents that can cause serious damage to your garden or lawn by destroying the roots of plants and foraging on vegetables.
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