Shimmering mole spotted for the first time in nearly 100 years
A shimmering mole that swims through sand has been rediscovered nearly 100 years after wildlife experts thought it had gone extinct.
De Winton’s golden mole, which was last seen in 1936, was found living on beaches on the north-west coast of South Africa.
A team from the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the University of Pretoria, sampled soil in the area looking for mole DNA, before deploying a scent-detection border collie to sniff out the creatures.
Cobus Theron, a senior conservation manager for EWT and a member of the search team, said: “Though many people doubted that De Winton’s golden mole was still out there, I had good faith that the species had not yet gone extinct.
“I was convinced it would just take the right detection method, the proper timing, and a team passionate about finding it.
“I think it’s just fantastic that in 2023 we can still rediscover species. All of our stories around conservation are doom and gloom. Here we have an opportunity to say that, actually, there are opportunities to make change.”
De Winton’s golden mole is a small, blind, insect-eating mammal that owes its golden name to its pearl-like iridescent fur. The shimmering fur is caused by oil that the moles secrete to make it easier to swim through the sand.
The moles’ burrowing habits make them difficult to track down, and the creatures have extremely sensitive hearing that can detect vibrations from movement above ground, helping them to avoid being seen from the surface.
Unlike British moles, they rarely leave tunnels behind that are visible from the surface.
The mole was last seen in Port Nolloth beach, on the north-western coast, so conservationists sampled the soil in the area and surrounding regions to see if they could find evidence the creature was still there.
Animals shed skin cells, hair and bodily excretions, which can be used to confirm their presence.
Solving the riddle
The team found four golden moles including De Winton’s mole but it was initially tricky to tell it apart from the genetically similar Van Zyl’s golden mole.
It was only when they uncovered another golden mole specimen in a Cape Town museum that they were able to make a match.
Mr Theron said: “Now not only have we solved the riddle, but we have tapped into this eDNA frontier where there is a huge amount of opportunity not only for moles, but for other lost or imperilled species.”
Christina Biggs, manager for the Search for Lost Species, Re:wild, which also helped with the search, said: “The search for De Winton’s golden mole was not easy by any means, and it really speaks to how persistent, thorough and resourceful the EWT team was in the field.
“They left no sandhill unturned and now it’s possible to protect the areas where these threatened and rare moles live.
“The successful use of the eDNA technique is now a case study on how such forward-thinking technologies can be utilised to find other lost species.”
The finding was published in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation.
