How Does a Mole Know Where It's Digging?
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Sight
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Contrary to popular misconception, the mole is not truly blind. A mole's eyes are very small (an evolutionary advantage, as it protects them from dirt and infection) and their eyesight is poor (they cannot detect color), but a mole's eyesight is sensitive to movement and light--factors that can tell a mole when predator or prey is near or when it's emerging from beneath ground. Changes such as these in a mole's environment will also tell it certain things about where it is in relation to its burrow.
Sound
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To some extent, moles use their sense of hearing to determine where they are and what's going on around them. Though there is relatively little for a mole to hear when it is underground, a mole's hearing can be used to detect vibrations and the movements of other animals.
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Smell
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Smell is the mole's most primary and important sense in terms of survival and navigation. To the mole, the smell of a place or situation is as distinctive and telling as the sight of it is to human beings. The star-nosed mole, a peculiar creature posessing a star-shaped nasal appendage, has a particularly remarkable sense of smell. This type of mole can identify prey by smell quickly enough to make it the fastest-eating mammal known.
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