When maintaining golden moles in captivity, room temperature is acceptable in moderate climates, but it is advisable to keep them in a temperature-controlled room if daily room temperatures drop below 15C or rise above 30C. As a general rule of thumb, a temperature of 15-25C is recommended; this range does not disrupt their endogenous daily torpor rhythms, and this torpor considerably reduces the amount of food they consume. Moles in torpor should not be handled excessively, as this awakens them, and seems to result in considerable stress, in extreme cases leading to the cessation of eating and physiological decline of the individual. Conservation a b Asher, Robert J.; Maree, Sarita; Bronner, Gary; Bennett, Nigel C.; Bloomer, Paulette; Czechowski, Paul; Meyer, Matthias; Hofreiter, Michael (9 March 2010). "A phylogenetic estimate for golden moles (Mammalia, Afrotheria, Chrysochloridae)". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 10 (1): 69. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-10-69. PMC 2850353. PMID 20214773. S2CID 2276457.

The Golden Mole: and Other Living Treasure a book by

Simonetta, A. M. 1968. A new golden mole from Somalia with an appendix on the taxonomy of the family Chrysochloridae (Mammalia: Insectivora). Monitore zoologici italiana, Supplement 2: 27-55. The behavior of golden moles has not been studied in any detail, though it is known that most species are territorial and fight viciously if confined together. The only species whose behaviors have been documented is the Hottentot golden mole, in which adults are solitary and fight aggressively with individuals of either sex by wrestling their opponent using the foreclaws, and biting at the abdomen. Fighting is often accompanied by high-pitched squeaks. Individuals actively defend their burrow systems. Some amount of home range overlap is tolerated, and dominant moles sometimes take over neighbouring burrow systems to increase their home range. Courtship involves chirruping vocalizations, head-bobbing and foot stamping by the male, and rasping and squealing vocalizations by the female (Kuyper 1985).A historical tendency to focus biological attention on the larger, charismatic mammals while overlooking smaller-sized mammalian groups that are more diverse, ancient and often more deserving of conservation concern. The highly restricted distributions of some species, often in remote areas not easily accessible to biologists; Bronner, G.N., Jonres E. & Coetzer, D.J. 1990. Hyoid-dentary articulations in golden moles (Mammalia: Insectivora; Chrysochloridae). Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 55:11-15. Narins, P.M.; Losin, N.; O'Connell-Rodwell, C.E. (2009). "Seismic and Vibrational Signals in Animals". Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. pp.545–549. doi: 10.1016/B978-008045046-9.01826-X. ISBN 978-0-08-045046-9. Mason, M. J. & Narins, P. M. 2001. Seismic signal use by fossorial mammals. American Zoologist 41: 1171-1184.

Golden Mole by Richard Girling | Waterstones The Hunt for the Golden Mole by Richard Girling | Waterstones

Golden moles are small insectivorous burrowing mammals endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa. They comprise the family Chrysochloridae and as such they are taxonomically distinct from the true moles, family Talpidae, and other mole-like families, all of which, to various degrees, they resemble as a result of evolutionary convergence. There are 21 species. Some (e.g., Chrysochloris asiatica, Amblysomus hottentotus) are relatively common, whereas others (e.g., species of Chrysospalax, Cryptochloris, Neamblysomus) are rare and endangered.Chrysochloridae are subterranean, afrotherian mammals endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, and most of which are recorded from South Africa in particular. Other regions include Lake Victoria, Western Cape, [5] and Namibia. [6] They live in a variety of environments; forest, swamps, deserts, or mountainous terrain. Chrysospalax species tend to forage above ground in leaf litter in forests or in meadows. Eremitalpa species such as Grant's golden mole live in the sandy Namib desert, where they cannot form tunnels because the sand collapses. Instead during the day, when they must seek shelter, they "swim" through the loose sand, using their broad claws to paddle, and dive down some 50 centimetres (20in) to where it is bearably cool. There they enter a state of torpor, thus conserving energy. [7] At night they emerge to forage on the surface rather than wasting energy shifting sand. Their main prey are termites that live under isolated grass clumps, and they might travel for 6 kilometres (3.7mi) a night in search of food. They seek promising clumps by listening for wind-rustled grass-root stresses and termites' head-banging alarm signals, neither of which can be heard easily above ground, so they stop periodically and dip their heads under the sand to listen. [7] Seymour, R. S., Withers, P. C. & Weathers, W. W. 1998. Energetics of burrowing, running and free-living in the Namib Desert golden mole ( Eremitalpa namibensis). Journal of Zoology, London 244: 107-117. Digimorph Digiital morphology account of the golden mole skeleton (genus c hrysochloris) Literature Cited

Golden Mole: and Other Living Treasure - Hardcover - AbeBooks The Golden Mole: and Other Living Treasure - Hardcover - AbeBooks

Most of the species listed in threatened categories have restricted or fragmented distributions where populations are being subjected to increasing habitat degradation as a result of human activities, most notably mining, urbanization, agriculture and the poor management of indigenous forests.Golden Moles share a number of features, varying by species, seldom seen elsewhere among living mammals, including three forearm long-bones, hyoid- mandible articulation, and a hypertrophied malleus. [5] Some species have hypertrophied (enlarged) middle ear ossicles, in particular the malleus. These animals have the largest malleus relative to body size of any animal. [9] This morphology may be adapted for the detection of seismic signals. [10] [11] [12] In this respect there is some apparent convergent evolution to burrowing reptiles in the family Amphisbaenidae.

The Golden Mole: an Account of Vanishing Treasure

Springer M.S., Stanhope M.J., Madsen O. & de Jong W.W. 2004. Molecules consolidate the placental mammal tree. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19:430–438. One of the reasons for the evolutionary success of golden moles may be their unique physiology. Despite a high thermal conductance, they have a low basal metabolic rate and are moderate ( Chrysochloris asiatica, Amblysomus hottentotus) to extreme ( Eremitalpa granti) thermoconformers (Bennett & Spinks, 1995; Seymour et al. 1998), thereby considerably reducing their thermoregulatory energy requirements. All species enter torpor, either daily or in response to cold temperatures. Body temperature in the thermal neutral zone is lower than in other similarly-sized mammals. The low metabolic rate of the Cape golden mole is achieved by lowering the body temperature, whereas in Grant’s golden mole it is also the result of intrinsic metabolic depression. Lowered metabolism and efficient renal function effectively reduce water requirements to the extent that most species do not need to drink. Far from being “primitive” characteristics, as was originally proposed by Withers (1978), such physiological specializations allow these moles to survive in habitats where temperatures are extreme and food is scarce, either seasonally or perennially. EcologyMacPhee, R. D. E. & Novacek, M. J. 1993. Definition and relationships of Lipotyphla. Pp. 13-31. In Mammal Phylogeny: Placentals (F. S. Szalay, ed.). Springer Verlag, New York. Bronner, G.N. 1995a. Cytogenetic properties of nine species of golden moles (Insectivora: Chrysochloridae). Journal of Mammalogy 76: 957-971.