The Marsupial Mole is actually not a mole but a curious little marsupial creature, only about 15 centimetres long. The characteristic of a marsupial is that the female of the species has a pouch to carry its young in. The Marsupial Mole is from the red deserts of Western and South Western Australia where it spends its time burrowing around in the dry flat riverbeds and dunes. The local aboriginals call it Itjaritjari.
Its fine fur is a beautiful silky golden colour and hides its almost non-existent tiny eyes and pinhole ears with a stubby tail. It relies on its extremely strong claws to dig its way just below the surface of the sand. It doesn’t make any tunnels like you might think, because the sand is so soft and dry it can just push it out the way behind him and it doesn’t stick together. It almost swims through the sand. Part of being such a good digger is down to the fact that its neck and back have evolved and fused together meaning it can’t turn its head very well but has a very rigid shape to dig better. It can dig more than 2 meters deep. The head is streamlined, almost bullet shaped, with a leathery plate protecting a sensitive snout. It has also developed two huge talon-like claws on its front paws to make it perfectly adapted for digging.
It can weigh up to about 100 grams and eats anything from small lizards and insects to juicy larvae grubs. The Marsupial Mole has cunningly evolved to also have her pouch open towards her back so that no sand gets in. The female can only have two young at a time because she only has two teats in the pouch.
Unfortunately very little is known about this lovely creature because it is so rare.
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Very good post! A really good read particularly because it is succint and details the wonderful adaptations of this beautiful creature. I have done some research on this creature and I wish I had written such a nice post.
Regards
ateeq ahmad
Thanks Ateeq.
These are great little creatures aren’t they. There is actually much more interesting information and some great pictures that show a lot of detail but I thought I would give a little flavour of what this mole is about.
I had a look at your site too, it is really informative. Hopefully I can build up a database like yours eventually.
Feel free to email me.