Warning Dead Animal Picture! Is this a mole or a vole?

[YadaYadaYada]

I found this poor guy in the middle of my yard, he was already gone when I found him

I've read about moles and voles and at first I thought this was a vole but not sure about the long nose, it looks more mole-like.

Can anyone identify?

 

[stracci2000]

Awwww! Poor baby! Look at those tiny whiskers!
I don't know specifically what it is, but it sure was cute

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Right? I wonder if maybe a hawk dropped him but there didn't seem to be outside trauma, maybe he got into some poison.

 

[rocks]

They.destroy everything.....nothing cute about them.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

im going with he had a long happy life
made lots of babbies
ate lots of food
cuddeled his kin alot
or what ever these guys do for pleasure
maybe he had a few bit parts in Disney films and he could afford to live the high life
and then after a long happy day in the garden he had a heart attack and died peacefully just like my grandad

 

[JPie]

I think it was a mole.

 

[lovedogs]

OH MY GOD IT'S SO CUTE!!!!!!! Poor dude.

 

[MMtwo]

Goodbye Joe.
I think a vole, he didn't have digger paws.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I think we had moles years ago because we had grubs, treated for the grubs and the moles left.

Honestly they don't bother me apart from making holes that wasps tend to find and take up residence in. We don't have a garden, if we did the bunnies and woodchucks would have taken care of that by now

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Mole. Unfortunately my dogs have killed a few critters in seconds without any obvious marks. I have been able to tell them to "drop it" when I notice they have something in the fenced in portion of the yard that they go out into. So I know they didn't have that critter for more than a few seconds before I noticed. I think some of the little critters die from shock if a dog, cat or other predator gets a hold of them. On a positive note two critters, (a baby bunny and baby possum) who looked dead, actually revived later on.

 

[MMtwo]

https://mfburchick.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/eastern-mole/

 

[stracci2000]

@StephanieLynn
I say it's a shrew:

This is a mole:

Big difference!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_short-tailed_shrew

 

[SparklieBug]

im going with he had a long happy life
made lots of babbies
ate lots of food
cuddeled his kin alot
or what ever these guys do for pleasure
maybe he had a few bit parts in Disney films and he could afford to live the high life
and then after a long happy day in the garden he had a heart attack and died peacefully just like my grandad

I don't often comment, however, this made me laugh right out loud! I also tend to look on the bright side... Thanks for the giggle, @Daisys and Diamonds!

 

[stracci2000]

I don't often comment, however, this made me laugh right out loud! I also tend to look on the bright side... Thanks for the giggle, @Daisys and Diamonds!

Yes, @Daisys and Diamonds you are a hoot! I love to read your clever comments!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Yes, @Daisys and Diamonds you are a hoot! I love to read your clever comments!

why thank you @stracci2000 and @SparklieBug
but i really just live in a fantasy world

 

[lovedogs]

@StephanieLynn
I say it's a shrew:

This is a mole:

Big difference!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_short-tailed_shrew

oh my god I love moles. LOOK AT THOSE FEEEEEET! Look at that glorious snout!

 

[stracci2000]

oh my god I love moles. LOOK AT THOSE FEEEEEET! Look at that glorious snout!

And what about those teensy little bitty eyes? Poor little fella can barely see!

 

[lovedogs]

And what about those teensy little bitty eyes? Poor little fella can barely see!

He doesn't need to see! I'll carry him everywhere!

 

[canuk-gal]

@StephanieLynn
I say it's a shrew:

This is a mole:

Big difference!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_short-tailed_shrew

Ask Shakespeare!

 

[Austina]

It doesn’t look like the moles we have here.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@lovedogs, you know I could always catch one and send one to you!

@LisaRN, our dog just this year got a woodchuck in the yard, there was no outside trauma to that guy either because like you said I think he might have died from shock or Merlin (the dog) shook him. I was mortified so we had a fence installed and this mole/shrew was outside of the fence so I know the dog didn't get it and that leaves me kind of stumped as to what happened to the little guy.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@stracci2000, I think you might be right about it being a shrew, I found this picture of one online and it looks like what I found.

Shrews startle easily and can be startled to death by a sudden noise. So it's possible that he was in the yard and maybe when the dogs got let out and were barking they might have scared him to death

 

[LemonMoonLex]

I want one! Cute little buddies!
Where I live we only have squirrels, but no other cutesy forest like burrowing animals.
Our animals are all adapted for the incredibly dry and incredibly hot barren landscape here in the desert so they tend to not look as "cute" to most people.


*Edit* I just went and read a little on shrews but apparently theyre one of the most aggressive creatures with an intense appetite and most species are venomous. Yes you read that correctly. They also have a common pray....snakes..........

Taken from :
https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.n...ange-and-unbelievable-facts-about-shrews/amp/

"You can spend way too much time on YouTube watching videos of shrews attacking mice, scorpions, snakes and other larger creatures. Spoiler alert: the shrew wins.

This is because many shrew species are venomous. Research has found that an individual shrew stores enough venom to kill 200 mice. Some shrews also use this venom for something called live hoarding.

Live hoarding sounds innocuous enough, but in reality it shares numerous plot points with that terrifying movie Hostel. Here’s how it works.

The shrew lacks hollow fangs (as in venomous snakes) but instead has a gland that allows saliva to flow with the venom. When the shrew encounters its prey – often an invertebrate, but it can also be a mouse or other vertebrate – it begins biting it, allowing the venomous saliva to flow into the wound.

For the prey, this is the beginning of a very bad day. The venom paralyzes the creature, but keeps it very much alive. The shrew can then move it to a cache, available for whenever hunting is not going so great. For an animal that has to eat constantly, this keeps a fresh if unsavory meal always at the ready.

The American Chemical society reports that a mealworm can be kept, paralyzed but alive, for 15 days.

Shrew bites on humans are reportedly painful but fade in a few days. Be very, very glad these animals are not larger."

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@TheGarnetGirl, I had read about their appetites but had no idea they were that aggressive. So a shrew is basically like a woman on a low calorie diet who can't have chocolate or coffee

Kind of glad I started this thread, had no idea about shrews and have learned quite a bit about them already.

We have so many squirrels especially now as they are gathering nuts for the winter, we also have black squirrels which are a little more unusual. A while back there was a turkey in the yard but he was by far the the most exotic animal we've had.

 

[stracci2000]

@TheGarnetGirl, don't you have prairie dogs and roadrunners?
I see prairie dogs often, but not in our yard. They live in open spaces, like empty dirt lots. I think they're cute, but people hate them because they dig holes and tunnels.

And we get roadrunners coming through the yard all the time! They are awesome.

 

[Ally T]

It's a shrew. Unfortunately one of our cats brings us lots of gifts. The shrews & voles are always dead, the teeny field mouses she brings in alive & let's them go. We live in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farms & woodlands, so I think we get the lot.

Be thankful it's not a mole. My brother used to have the most beautiful gardens, but has been blighted by moles for 2 years now. Even Pest Control are struggling to cope with them.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Thanks @Alex T, I especially appreciate that you have seen them up close and can identify this guy as a shrew, I thought for sure it was a mole or vole. What's odd is we are on the outskirts of our downtown area yet we seem to get a lot of creatures, maybe because we have an area of wetland type property in the back.

 

[JPie]

Wow, shrews sound badass for creatures that can be scared to death. Is there no taming them?!

 

[lovedogs]

Wow, shrews sound badass for creatures that can be scared to death. Is there no taming them?!

 

[Tartansparkles]

We had moles in the garden when I was younger, drove my dad nuts with large mounds of soil popping up all over the lawn. I'd say it's not a mole because the paws (hands) aren't big enough.