When I come home at night, there are a variety of creatures that I usually expect to see, squirrels, slugs (eww!), occasional rabbits with always make me stop and look twice at them as if I’ve never seen one before, even frogs.
One night, Mike was coming in and in the dark, spotted a creature that I’ve never seen before. How did his eagle eyes see this thing in the dark, I wondered? What is it?
A mouse? A rat? But where is it’s long tail?
Mike runs into the house exclaiming, “There’s a mole outside!” and I was like, “What?” trying to wrap my mind around what a mole is, but sure enough, I think, it was a mole. It moved quickly, like a mouse, and when I shined my flashlight on it, I could see that it’s eyes were bluish white, like they were useless. And then my friend Nicole confused me the next day, asking me if I was sure it wasn’t a vole. A vole? It could be!
From Wikipedia: A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, and smaller ears and eyes. There are approximately 70 species of voles; they are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America.
Moles are the majority of the members of the mammal family Talpidae in the order Soricomorpha. Although moles burrow, some species are semi-aquatic. Moles have cylindrical bodies (about 15 cm long, plus 32 mm tail; weight about 120 g[2]) covered in fur, with small or covered eyes; the ears are generally not visible. They eat small invertebrates living underground. Moles can be found almost anywhere in North America, Asia, and Europe, although there are no moles in Ireland[3]. In some parts of the world, there are local burrowing animals that resemble moles: principally the golden mole of Southern Africa and the marsupial mole of Western Australia.
What was it? Who knows? One thing I do know is that it was blind. It was oblivious to our presence, until I flashed my camera! Then it took off!
Where there’s one, I’m sure there are more. I’m sure it’s found a home in a hole somewhere near my front door.
