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The Golden Mole - Endemic Newsletter
If you want to receive the Golden Mole Newsletter just send us an email.
Grant’s Golden Mole (Eremitalpa granti), namesake of the NaDEET
newsletter, is
endemic to the Namib Desert. It only weighs
about 20 grams, is light brown in colour and fits in
the palm of your hand. It eats mainly insects and
is active primarily at night time.
- Grant’s Golden Mole travels mostly by swimming
through the loose Namib dune sand. It
can be easily identified as it leaves behind a
clear trail. The Golden Mole will however also
walk on the sand’s
surface in search of
food.
- The eyeless Golden Mole finds its food by
feeling vibrations (microseismic signals) of the
grass while it is sandswimming. The insects
that the Golden
Mole eats are often
in this grass and also
give off vibrations.
- Unlike other mammals, the Golden Mole does
not have a constant body temperature. To not
waste energy on keeping warm or cooling off
in the harsh desert climate, the Golden Mole’s
body temperature is always only a few degrees
different than the sand’s temperature.
- The main food source for the Golden Mole
is the termite. In the Namib dunes, a species
of termites survives from the roots of
ostrich grass. Termites are not only a good
source of protein but have
a high fat content providing
much needed moisture to
the Golden Mole.
- The Golden Mole has an enormous middle ear. If it were the same size as a
human, then its middle ear would be as large as
the middle ear of an
elephant.
(Photo by Galen Rathbun)
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