{"id":31572,"date":"2023-09-05T17:35:06","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T15:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=79236"},"modified":"2023-09-05T18:36:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T16:36:53","slug":"star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Star-nosed mole: how its freaky nose is the most sensitive in the animal kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

The freakish, tentacled snout of the star-nosed mole Condylura cristata may look funny, but it\u2019s nothing to laugh at. It could be the most skilled sniffer under the sun \u2013 even when underwater. <\/p>

By BBC Wildlife Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 05 September 2023 at 15:35 PM<\/p>

\n\n

The star-nosed<\/strong> mole, a hamster-sized inhabitant of North American wetlands, is nearly blind. But what it lacks in vision, it more than makes up for in feeling, so to speak.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s so special about the star-nosed mole\u2019s nose?<\/h2>\n
Its nose is used more as a super-sensitive spare paw with 22 toes. The pea-sized organ is extremely perceptive, packed with over 25,000 sensory receptors \u2013 compared with 17,000 in the human hand. The mole can identify anything it touches seven times faster than a person can blink. This makes it the most sensitive organ in the animal world.<\/p>\n\nAll of this means the mole\u2019s star nose is a formidable hunting tool. The animal sweeps it back and forth along the ground like a metal detector, looking for worms and other treasures.<\/p>\nIt scans so quickly, and its feelers are so responsive, that the whole process \u2013 from detecting to devouring prey \u2013 takes just one-fifth of a second, making the mole the fastest-foraging mammal in the world.<\/p>\nBut the animal has another trick up its trunk. The mole can track the scent of prey underwater, like an aquatic bloodhound. To do this it blows a bubble out of each nostril. Odour molecules cross from the water into the air pocket, which the mole then sucks back in for a whiff. In this way, it sniffs out dinner in a pond as efficiently as a mouse or rat does on land.<\/p>\nOh, the sweet smell of evolutionary success.<\/p>\nWe named it one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/weird-animals\/\">weirdest and strangest animals in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"highlight \"> <div class=\"highlight__content editor-content\"> \n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/naked-mole-rat-facts\/\">Naked mole rat: what they are and how the queen rules the colony<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/do-moles-ever-move-around-above-ground\/\">Do moles ever move around above ground?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <hr\/>\nMain image \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The freakish, tentacled snout of the star-nosed mole Condylura cristata may look funny, but it\u2019s nothing to laugh at. It could be the most skilled sniffer under the sun \u2013 even when underwater. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31573,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/09\/star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom.jpg",2121,1414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/09\/star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/09\/star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/09\/star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/09\/star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/09\/star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/09\/star-nosed-mole-how-its-freaky-nose-is-the-most-sensitive-in-the-animal-kingdom-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The freakish, tentacled snout of the star-nosed mole Condylura cristata may look funny, but it\u2019s nothing to laugh at. It could be the most skilled sniffer under the sun \u2013 even when underwater.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}