Moles (Family Talpidae)

Family Talpidae includes the moles, shrew moles, desmans, and
other intermediate forms of small insectivorous mammals of Order
Soricomorpha. Moles are, to varying degrees, subterranean animals,
whilst desmans are aquatic. Talpids are found across the northern
hemisphere, in Asia, Europe, and North America, although there are
none in Ireland or anywhere in the Americas south of northern Mexico.

Talpids are small, dark-furred animals with cylindrical bodies and
hairless, tubular snouts. They range in size from the tiny shrew-moles
of North America, as small as 2.4 cm in length and weighing under 12
grams, to the Russian desman, with a body length of 18-22 cm, and a
weight of about 550 grams.

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