. The animals of the world. Brehm's life of animals;. Mammals. THE MOLES—COMMON MOLE. 295 Birih Once or twice a year the young and Training of Moles make their appearance, three Moles. to five at a birth, and the mother takes care of them with great solicitude. The little ones grow rather rapidly and stay with their mother for one or two months. Then they become inde- pendent and begin digging on their own account. They can only be kept in captivity by bestowing the utmost care upon them, as it is very difficult to satisfy their great voracity. The Common The Common Mole {Talpa europaa), Mole
. The animals of the world. Brehm's life of animals;. Mammals. THE MOLES—COMMON MOLE. 295 Birih Once or twice a year the young and Training of Moles make their appearance, three Moles. to five at a birth, and the mother takes care of them with great solicitude. The little ones grow rather rapidly and stay with their mother for one or two months. Then they become inde- pendent and begin digging on their own account. They can only be kept in captivity by bestowing the utmost care upon them, as it is very difficult to satisfy their great voracity. The Common The Common Mole {Talpa europaa), Mole of which is the type of the whole fam- Europe. ily, is a species confined to Europe and Asia. Inclusive of the tail, which measures one inch, the length is six, at the utmost seven inches, and the height at the shoul- ders is about two inches. The body is of cylindrical shape and the very short legs end in short toes of which the middle one is longest. The toes are unit- ed by a membrane for nearly their entire length. The eyes are about the size of a poppy seed; they lie mid- way between the tip of the snout and the ears and are completely covered with the hair of the head; still they are protected by lids and may be projected or re- tracted at will; therefore they may be used. The ears are small, and have no ex- ternal conch. The uniform, black fur is very close, short, soft and velvety all over. The animal is covered .all over with it with the excep- tion of the paws, soles, tip of the snout and end of the tail. It has a somewhat vivid lustre and sometimes varies from the typical black into a brownish, bluish or even whitish tint. Yellow or white Moles are found very rarely. This Mole ranges all over Europ6 and northern Africa and extends through Asia to the Altai, or even into Japan. It goes as far as the Amoor and southward down to the Caucasus; in the Alps it is found at an elevation of 6,000 feet. It is common everywhere within this range and increases in a sur- prisin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectmammals, bookyear1895
