Wildlife
Star-nosed moles are distinctive mammals with a bizarre set of tentacles surrounding the nose. The 22 tentacles are extremely sensitive to touch and to electrical impulses and allow the moles to find and identify their invertebrate prey without using sight. This multifunctional 'star' is also used to keep soil and food from entering the nose. Native to eastern north America, star-nosed moles dig a network of tunnels, some as long as 270m, through poorly drained moist soil. They're also surprisingly good swimmers.
Did you know?
The 22 tentacles on a star-nosed mole bear more than 25,000 receptive organs in a space smaller than one square centimetre.
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Nosing around
The star-nosed mole's weird nose reads the underground world like Braille.
The star-nosed mole's weird nose reads the underground world like Braille.
Star-nosed moles
Equally successful underground and underwater.
Who needs perfect eye-sight when you have a nose with 22 fingers on it? Thanks to its remarkably dexterous nostrils, the star-nosed mole is able to sense the world around it just using its sense of touch… both on the ground and under water.
Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder.
The Star-nosed mole can be found in a number of locations including: North America. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Star-nosed mole distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Least Concern
Population trend: Stable
Year assessed: 2008
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a small mole found in wet low areas of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, with records extending along the Atlantic coast as far as extreme southeastern Georgia. It is the only member of the tribe Condylurini and the genus Condylura.
The star-nosed mole is easily identified by the 11 pairs of pink fleshy appendages ringing its snout, which is used as a touch organ with more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer's organs, with which this hamster-sized mole feels its way around. With the help of its Eimer's organs, it may be perfectly poised to detect seismic wave vibrations.
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Bog
Lakes and ponds
Marsh
Rivers and streams
Swamp
Broadleaf forest
Coniferous forest
Helpless young
Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Colonial
Burrower
Tactile sense
Monogamous
Viviparous