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What do moles normally eat?

Last Updated: April 25, 2007

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The teeth of a mole indicate the characteristics of its food and general behavior. In several respects, moles are much more closely related to carnivorous or flesh-eating mammals than to rodents. A mole’s diet consists mainly of the insects, grubs, and worms it finds in the soil. Moles are thought to damage roots and tubers by feeding on them, but rodents usually are to blame.

Moles eat from 70 to 100 percent of their weight each day. A mole’s appetite seems to be insatiable. Experiments with captive moles show that they will usually eat voraciously as long as they are supplied with food to their liking. The tremendous amount of energy expended in plowing through soil requires a correspondingly large amount of food to supply that energy. Moles must have this food at frequent intervals.

Resources: (online)
icwdm.org/handbook/mammals/Moles.asp

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