The Iberian Mole is native to most of the Iberian Peninsula. A tireless excavator, it spends almost its entire life underground in a network of tunnels that can extend for several hundred metres. It only exceptionally comes to the surface.
Like other moles, it has a voracious appetite and a metabolism so demanding that it needs to eat approximately its own weight in earthworms every day. This makes it an almost constant subterranean hunter rather than an animal with regular resting habits.
For a long time, it was confused with the much more widespread European Mole. However, detailed study of its karyotype confirmed that the Iberian population constituted a distinct species, separate from both the European species and the one in south-western France.
The Iberian Mole is a small, cylindrical mammal highly adapted to subterranean life. It has very dense, velvety black fur, tiny, almost hidden eyes, no visible external ear pinna, and very broad, shovel-shaped front feet with robust claws. It is practically indistinguishable to the naked eye from the Aquitanian Mole, with which it shares part of its range in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Reliable separation between both species requires genetic or karyotype analysis.
The Iberian Mole leaves no conventional tracks due to its subterranean life. The clearest indication of its presence are molehills or mounds of disturbed earth on the surface. These are conical, 15-25 cm in diameter, and formed by expelling excavated earth from deep burrows. Surface hunting burrows leave ridges of raised earth visible as undulating lines under turf or meadow. Droppings are rarely found on the surface, as they are deposited within the burrow system itself.
Meadows, pastures, orchards, and forests with soft, deep soil suitable for excavation, from lowlands to mid-mountain areas. Endemic to most of the Iberian Peninsula, with the northern peninsula forming a contact zone with the Aquitanian Mole.
A subterranean carnivore, it feeds mainly on earthworms, supplemented by insect larvae and other soil invertebrates, caught within its network of tunnels.
Solitary and territorial, the Iberian Mole maintains an extensive system of underground tunnels which it defends from other individuals of its species. It is active both day and night in short cycles of activity and rest. Its high metabolism and continuous need to feed mean it has no seasonal hibernation pattern.
Populations are generally stable in most of its Iberian range, with no documented signs of widespread decline.
The Iberian Mole faces no relevant conservation threats across most of its range. Locally, it is subject to population control in some agricultural and gardening areas due to the molehills it creates, and may be affected by the use of poisons intended for other species.
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