Mole (9" L)

Moles are known pests to human activities such as agriculture, lawncare, and gardening. However, they do not eat plant roots; they only cause damage indirectly, as they eat earthworms and other small invertebrates in the soil. However, while moles may be viewed as pests, they do provide many positive contributions to the soil, gardens, and the ecosystem, including soil aeration, feeding on slugs and other small creatures that do eat plant roots, and providing prey for other wildlife. A mole's diet primarily consists of earthworms and other small invertebrates found in the soil. The mole runs are in reality "worm traps", the mole sensing when a worm falls into the tunnel and quickly running along to kill and eat it. Because their saliva contains a toxin that can paralyze earthworms, moles are able to store their still-living prey for later consumption. They construct special underground "larders" for just this purpose; researchers have discovered such larders with over a thousand earthworms in them. Before eating earthworms, moles pull them between their squeezed paws to force the collected earth and dirt out of the worm's gut (Wikipedia)