# What Do Moles Eat?

> What moles eat: Insectivore (mostly earthworms), foraging style, and seasonal shifts in Underground tunnels in grassland, woodland, gardens.

- **Species:** Mole (*Talpa europaea*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Insectivore (mostly earthworms)
- **Habitat:** Underground tunnels in grassland, woodland, gardens
- **Lifespan:** About 3 years (up to 6)
- **Top speed:** Around 4 km/h digging through soil
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/mole/what-do-mole-eat/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/mole/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The European mole is a small, cylindrical burrowing mammal with velvety black fur, tiny eyes, and enormous spade-like front paws built for digging. It spends almost its entire life underground, hunting earthworms in a network of tunnels, and the molehills on lawns are the soil it pushes to the surface. Moles weigh only about 70–130 g and usually live around 3 years.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a captive feeding plan from a veterinarian. This page is wild diet, not a pet-care sheet.

## Built for digging

The mole is one of nature's most specialised diggers. Its broad, outward-facing front paws work like shovels, and an extra thumb-like bone widens each paw to move more soil. Its fur has no grain, so it can move forwards or backwards in a tight tunnel without snagging, and a high tolerance for carbon dioxide lets it breathe the stale air of its burrows.

## Help protect the Mole

Even familiar animals lose ground as wild habitat keeps shrinking worldwide.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/mole/what-do-mole-eat/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.