Little Gentlemen In Black Velvet

[poliphilo]

There are still moles tunneling under my mother's lawn. I go out with a spade to level the hills so my mother won't see them and get vengeful. I don't want her calling in the moleman (a) because she gets so high-handed with him and (b) because I'm soppy about moles.

Ailz  and I were wondering why you never find a hole in the middle of a mole hill  Does anyone out there have the explanation?

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

They always forget to instal struts, so the things collapse in their wake. (When you've finished Watership Down, you can always try the knock-off Duncton Wood - it will probably give you more information!)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So how come they don't get buried and suffocate?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I'd like to be able to tell you that it's because moles can hold their breath for as long as blue whales and only need to come to the surface once every two or three hours, but I'm afraid you wouldn't believe me.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't know, it's a plausible explanation...

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I love moles.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I once got to play Mole in a school production of a scene from Toad of Toad Hall.

[faunhaert.livejournal.com]

they are adorable
in their near sighted way.

so soft and gentle
till they panic and bite.
but i don't think i'd like to get grabbed
and picked up, but they can't understand
i'm sending them out where
the indoor cat would play with it
or chew its head of.

jack the black lab, thought they were delicious.
our side yard is still fairly trashed
from him diggin along going after them to eat.
luckily gus didn't learn about chasing moles
but he didn't have to live off the land like jack did for his early life.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember reading that moles don't actually taste all that good- and it's part of their defence system. Seems like nobody told Jack.

[faunhaert.livejournal.com]

Jack was a crazy dog

being a black lab
he didn't feel pain
Like when he ran his pads off

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

I BELIEVE that the molehill is the dirt that the mole has to dispose of because it has displaced this dirt during its tunneling, and the reason you don't find the hole in the middle is because the mole specifically designs his tunnel to collapse in order to prevent intruders. I think that was something that I learned when I was studying biology, but that was a long time ago.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A very clever piece of design, then. Thanks for the information.

Aren't animals amazing!

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

Yes, they are, a fact that is often missed when people just kill them.