Rough-haired golden mole facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Rough-haired golden mole |
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| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Afrosoricida |
| Family: | Chrysochloridae |
| Genus: | Chrysospalax |
| Species: |
C. villosus
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| Binomial name | |
| Chrysospalax villosus (A. Smith, 1833)
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| Subspecies | |
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Chrysospalax villosus dobsoni |
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| Rough-haired golden mole range | |
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The rough-haired golden mole (Chrysospalax villosus) is a special kind of mammal that spends most of its life underground. These moles have super shiny, thick fur and a smooth, round body shape. You won't see their eyes or ears easily because their tiny eyes are covered by hairy skin, making them blind. Their small ears are also hidden deep in their fur.
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Meet the Rough-Haired Golden Mole
The rough-haired golden mole is usually bigger than most other golden mole species. They can be about 12 to 17.5 centimeters long and weigh between 90 and 160 grams. In the Transvaal area of South Africa, male moles weighed about 105 grams on average. Females weighed from 65 to 142 grams.
This mole has coarse, long fur, with hairs about 1.8 to 2 centimeters long on its back. The shiny hairs on its back are slate-grey at the bottom and reddish-brown at the tips. The soft fur underneath is grey. Their front feet have strong claws on the third toe. These claws are about 1.6 centimeters long and 4 millimeters wide at the base. They are perfect for digging!
Where Do These Moles Live?
Historically, these moles lived in different parts of South Africa. This includes the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga provinces. One place they used to live, the Pretoria West region, has changed a lot. It's now a city, and moles haven't been seen there for over 10 years.
Conservation groups are worried that this mole might be more endangered than we think. For example, finding one mole in KwaZulu-Natal in 2003 was a big deal. It was the first one recorded there since 1974, almost 30 years earlier!
Natural Homes of the Golden Mole
The rough-haired golden mole is only found in South Africa. They live in different areas, including the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga. They are found from the eastern parts of the Cape Province, through southern and central KwaZulu-Natal, to southeastern Gauteng.
What Kind of Habitat Do They Like?
These moles prefer grasslands and meadows in South Africa's savanna and grassland areas. They are very secretive and hard to spot. It's even harder to find them because they like sandy soils and thick plants, usually near water. They often choose dry ground at the edges of marshes or damp areas. This might be because it's easier to dig for invertebrates like worms there.
Unlike some other golden moles, they don't make tunnels just below the surface. Instead, they dig burrows. You can spot their burrow entrances by the loose piles of soil around them. These entrances are left open when the moles leave to find food.
When they leave their burrows to find food, they create paths by using them repeatedly. They also disturb the soil with their tough noses as they root around for food. If they get scared while outside, they quickly run back into their burrows.
Mole Behavior and Social Life
Rough-haired golden moles usually live alone and protect their territory. They have been known to fight with other moles. Their burrow systems have several oval-shaped openings to the surface. These holes look a lot like the homes of freshwater crabs.
You can often see loose soil around these openings, also like crab holes. Sometimes there's a shallow dip at the entrance, which might be a toilet area for the mole. A clear sign of rough-haired golden moles is the rooting marks they make with their leathery noses. They do this when they search for food on the surface at night. These marks look like a shoe scuff dug lightly into the soil, and they are usually very close to the open holes.
After it rains, you might see their footprints in wet soil. Moles are most active and forage on the surface after rainfall. We don't know if they also look for food in tunnels, but it's likely. This would help them find food during long dry periods in winter.
What Do Golden Moles Eat?
The rough-haired golden mole sometimes feeds above ground. When it does, it roots around like a pig, looking for worms and insects. They walk at night to find food. You can tell where they've been by the disturbed soil where they've rooted for insects with their tough noses.
These moles have special bones in their skull that other mammals don't have. Their ear bones are also very large. Scientists think these big ear bones help them hear vibrations underground. Their diet includes insects and earthworms, but we don't know a lot about it. They probably eat any invertebrate or small vertebrate they find, just like the giant golden mole.
Threats to Golden Moles
The number of rough-haired golden moles has likely decreased over time. This is due to changes in their habitat from mining, power plants, city growth, and harmful farming practices. The biggest damage to their preferred home has happened in the Highveld grasslands of Mpumalanga and Gauteng. This is because of coal mining to power many electricity stations in the area.
Restoring these mining sites has not been very successful in bringing back natural plants and animals. These power stations are very important for South Africa's electricity. So, the damage is likely to increase as more people need power.
Ongoing habitat destruction and human activity will cause many sensitive or secretive animals to disappear. There are only a few suitable grasslands and wet areas left in the Gauteng Province, especially near Benoni. It's important to remember that these moles are very hard to find. More detailed studies are needed to understand how many are left in Gauteng.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
We don't know much about how rough-haired golden moles reproduce. One record from 1951 mentioned a female mole with two babies, but it didn't say when this was found.
 | Selma Burke |
 | Pauline Powell Burns |
 | Frederick J. Brown |
 | Robert Blackburn |
