Basil brought us a gift a couple of mornings ago. At least we presume it
was him, it usually is! Under the table on the veranda he had left a piece of
animal. Well, two pieces, a head and a foot! The head had some really lethal
teeth and we immediately recognised it. This is what it should have looked
like!
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| (Pic thanks to Google) |
It was the Cape Mole Rat, or 'Georychus Capensis', a little creature well
known to all gardeners in the Cape region!! These little souls are rarely seen
above ground, I think they realise that they would be in serious trouble if
they dared to show themselves! They feed on bulbs (especially the expensive
kind that have just been bought and planted), corms and tubers, and their
burrows can be 50 - 130 metres in length. They have extremely poor eyesight and
are mainly nocturnal. The only time that they do venture above ground is to
forage for food or to found new burrow systems. Then they run the risk of being
caught by jackals, mongooses, owls and grey herons. (And gardeners!) They are
also solitary except when the female is raising young, with only one mole per
burrow system and are highly aggressive towards other moles. No wonder there are so many burrows all over the place! The
green belt is full of tunnels and as they run just under the ground, you end up
sinking up to your ankles with every few steps you take!
