Mole vs. Mole Cricket

Two subterranean and rarely seen creatures have appeared on the surface lately, one just tumbling around in the yard on a warm evening, and one in a big tub of rain water.  New creatures are always exciting, but let’s see which one wins the Appealing Animal Award.

	Mole	Mole Cricket	point goes to:
Latin name	Scalopus aquaticus	Scapteriscus borelli	tie
habitat	subterranean	subterranean	tie
diet	mostly earthworms	references can’t agree on whether they are herbivorous or carnivorous	tie
native?	yes	no, introduced	Mole
eyes	hardly visible	large and noticeable	Mole Cricket
claws	suited for digging, but practically human looking	suited for digging, but typically bug-like	Mole
special features	ability to withstand extra carbon dioxide in system	none that we know of	Mole
surface	smooth and velvety	crunchy and shield-like	Mole
exhibit 1 -see below	Eastern Mole	Southern Mole Cricket
exhibit 2 -see below	Scalopus aquaticus	Scapteriscus borelli
appearance a surprise?	well, above-ground, yes, but evidence of existence seen often	yes, never even suspected there was such a creature!	Mole Cricket
cultural references	Mole in The Wind in the Willows. also, Whack-a-Mole games in arcades	none	Mole
damage caused?	minor ridges in ground, but we don’t live on a golf course, so no problem	none apparent	Mole Cricket
irony?	Latin name has “aquaticus” but…	this individual was the one found swimming.	Mole Cricket

Hmmm, this is going to be a tough one.  Let’s look at the nominees again, in close-up.

And the Award goes to…. Mole!  (Did you doubt?  Look at that velvety coat!)

As always, no creatures were harmed during the filming of these pictures, and all creatures were released back into the wild after a few short moments of photography.