Moles are common subterranean mammals often identified by the unsightly mounds they leave behind. Homeowners frequently blame them for consuming garden plants and roots. Understanding the mole’s true diet reveals that this perception is often a misunderstanding of its lifestyle and the purpose of its elaborate tunneling network.
The Mole’s Main Menu: Earthworms and Grubs
Moles are classified as insectivores, meaning their diet consists almost entirely of meat, specifically invertebrates found in the soil. Their primary food source is the earthworm, which can make up a large portion of their daily intake. Moles use their keen sense of smell and touch to detect the presence of worms and other prey moving through their tunnels.
Beyond earthworms, their diet is supplemented by other small creatures they encounter underground. This includes insect larvae, commonly referred to as grubs, such as those from June beetles or European chafers. They also consume slugs, snails, and various other soil-dwelling arthropods like centipedes. Their tunnels act as underground hunting grounds.
Why Moles Are Not Plant Eaters
Despite the widespread belief that moles destroy gardens by eating roots and bulbs, they are physically carnivores, not herbivores. Their sharp teeth are designed for tearing and consuming insects and worms, not for grinding tough plant matter. Moles do not possess the necessary digestive system to process vegetation effectively.
The actual damage to plant roots or vegetable bulbs is typically secondary, caused by the mole’s tunneling activity. As a mole excavates its horizontal feeding tunnels, it inevitably severs or disturbs the root systems of plants above. This disruption causes the roots to dry out, leading to wilting and plant death. Often, the true culprit for eating roots is the vole, a rodent and true herbivore that frequently uses mole tunnels for easy access to vegetation.
The Need for Constant Consumption
The mole’s relentless tunneling is driven by a physiological requirement: an extremely high metabolic rate. Digging through soil requires significant energy, meaning the mole must consume food almost continuously to sustain itself. They have a rapid digestive process that ensures they quickly extract nutrients from their prey.
To fuel their constant activity, a mole must consume an astonishing amount of food each day. An active mole may need to eat the equivalent of 50 to 80 percent of its own body weight every 24 hours just to survive. This high caloric demand explains why they are constantly expanding their tunnel systems, searching for new hunting territory to meet their energy needs. If a mole goes without food for more than a few hours, it risks starvation.
Storing Food for Later Use
A unique behavior that helps moles survive periods when food is scarce, such as cold weather or drought, is their method of creating food caches. They establish subterranean larders within their tunnel network to store live prey for future consumption. These caches are almost exclusively made up of earthworms.
The mole immobilizes the worms by delivering a precise bite to the worm’s head segment, which paralyzes it without causing death. This method keeps the worms fresh and prevents them from escaping the storage chamber. A single larder can contain hundreds of worms, providing a vital reserve of sustenance when the usual supply of active prey drops off.