page_title: Mole (animal)
section_title: Extra thumbs
hierarchical_section_title: Mole (animal) / Characteristics / Extra thumbs
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch&#x3a;&#32; Europäische Maulwurf - Vorderbein - Grabschaufel.English&#x3a;&#32; European Mole - Anterior leg - Mole hand.Français&#x202f;&#x3a;&#32; Taupe commune - Patte antérieure&#160;: la main.
context_page_description: Moles are small mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have cylindrical bodies, velvety fur, very small, inconspicuous ears and eyes, reduced hindlimbs, and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws adapted for digging.
  The term mole is especially and most properly used for "true moles" of the family Talpidae in the order Eulipotyphla, which are found in most parts of North America, Europe and Asia, although it may also refer to unrelated mammals of Australia and southern Africa that have convergently evolved the "mole" body plan. The term is not applied to all talpids; e.g., desmans and shrew moles differ from the common definition of "mole".
  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.
context_section_description: Moles have polydactyl forepaws; each has an extra thumb (also known as a prepollex) next to the regular thumb. While the mole's other digits have multiple joints, the prepollex has a single, sickle-shaped bone that develops later and differently from the other fingers during embryogenesis from a transformed sesamoid bone in the wrist, independently evolved but similar to the giant panda thumb. This supernumerary digit is species-specific, as it is not present in shrews, the mole's closest relatives. Androgenic steroids are known to affect the growth and formation of bones, and a connection is possible between this species-specific trait and the "male" genital apparatus in female moles of many mole species (gonads with testicular and ovary tissues).
caption: Mole paw
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