The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1892-07-09
THE FIERCEST ANIMAL.
THE MOLE IS THE MOST FERO-
CIOUS FOR ITS SIZE.
Had It the Size OF the Tiger It Would
10 he the Most Terrible Creature La
the World Its Agility
and voracity.

| the World Its Agility
and voracity.
what Is the fercest animal In the
Worldp" asked Washington Star
writer of zoologist
'.The mole" he replied. you
are surprised. but such in my opinion.
Is the fact. People ordinarily look
upon the mole as a sluggish and
harmless creature. spending its life
In. cropping blindly under ground. AS
usual the popular idea Is a mistaken
one. The mole IL in reality the most
ferocious and most active OF animals.
Imagine ii magnified TO the size OF a
tiger and you would have more
terrible beast than the world has yet
seen. Though with defective powers
OF vision and therefore incapable Of
following its prey by sight it would
be agile beyond conception. springing
this way and that sit went along.
leaping with lightning quickness upon
any creature which lit met rending
1t to pieces In moment devouring
the yet warm and bleeding flesh and
instantly seeking. with hunger in
satiable for fresh victim.
This creature would. without hes
itation. devour serpent twenty feet
in length. and so tremendous would
be its voracity that it would eat
twenty Or thirty such snakes in the
course OF a day. With one grasp Of
its teeth and single clutch OF its
claws it could disembowel an OK and,
II it should happen 10 enter a fold OF
sheep or an enclosure OF cattle. it
would kill them all for the mere lust
of slaughter Let two such animals
meet and how terrific would be the
battle. Fear is feeling which the
mole seems never to entertain. In
conflict with an adversary OF its own
kind its efforts are exclusively direct
ed to injuring its opponent without
regard for its own protection. An
examination OF the skeleton of a mole
will repay your trouble. so wonderful
Is its adaptation OF structure to Its
manner of life 1t looks like verit-
able machine for digging. and it has
several accessory bones which are
not found in any other living beast
being discovered only in certain fossil
forms
THE mole Is gifted with incredible
activity. 1t pursues the earth worms
on which it chiefly feeds with an en-
ergy that is untiring, and. when it
has caught one. it devours the prey
like starving tiger rending it with
its powerful claws and teeth. Oc-
casionally it will capture bird and
tear it to fragments. devouring eager
ly the bleeding flesh. During the
latter part OF June Mr.. Mole falls in
love, and in his attachments he is as
furious as in all other phases of his
nature. At that period he cannot
meet another male of his kind without
| fighting, very often to the death. He
| constructs bridal chamber for his
| chosen spouse at the intersection of
two OF his tunnels SO that there is
more than one way OF escape for him
self and the young ones in case
danger threatens. This chamber is
partly filed with dried grass for q
couch. and 1t Is always at some dis
lance from Mr. Moles dwelling
proper.
THE subterranean dwelling of Mr..
Mole is a wonderful labyrinth. No hui
man being could well find his way
about in it supposing that its dimen-
sions were sufficiently magnified to
admit his passage through the maze
of tunnels. The latter compose net
work as complicated as that of the
sewers OF a metropolis II must not
be imagined that the animal burrows
at random. On the contrary it works
on we'll defined system. though how
1t forms its burrows in such admirable
straight lines always laboring in the
blacklist darkness is mystery. The
home OF the beast Is in hillock, I'M
der the shelter of some tree or bank.
SO as to be inconspicuous. Here is it's
center OF operations from which regu-
lar roads lead of In different direc-
lions to the feeding grounds II you
dig into the hlllock you can discover
4 very elaborate and wonderful struct-
ure.
The central apartment OF the
uWcilluS 10 hootiy oPhoiiSui Shulu-
Der, around which run circular pas
sages, one on level with the ceiling
and the other at some height above.
The upper circle is much smaller than
the lower one. Five short and nearly
vertical passages connect these gall
leries with each other. When Mr..
Mole enters his house from one OF the
tunnels he has first to get into the
lower gallery, thence to ascend into
the upper gallery and so descend into
the chamber. However. there is an
other entrance to the chamber from
below by a passage which dips down
ward from the middle OF the spherical
room. then curving upward and finally
opening into one OF the bigger tunnels
or highroads. OF these highroads
there are seven or eight
Owing to the peculiar habits OF
the mole comparatively little is known
about the animal and its ways The
use OF this labyrinth and complicated
system OF tunnels the latter usually
extending over or rather under. a
great space OF ground. Is in some de-
gree a mystery. One object OF the
arrangement is doubtless that the
owner in case OF alarm shall be able
to make his escape BY the continual
pressure OF the creatures fur the
walls OF the chamber and passages
ara randered smooth hard and mol