Tennessee mammals

Eastern Mole in Tennessee

Scalopus aquaticus

Native to Tennessee S5 Secure in Tennessee

Not listed as nonindigenous in Tennessee by USGS NAS; native to its Tennessee range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Eastern Mole in Tennessee, by the numbers

Common in Tennessee 28th most recorded of 86 mammals logged in Tennessee

211 occurrence records
176 with iNaturalist photos
Jun 25, 2026 Last seen in Tennessee

Records from 2000–2026.

211 total records count every Tennessee occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 205; the monthly chart covers the 203 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Eastern Mole in Tennessee

Most sightings fall in May to June.

203 Tennessee occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Tennessee records (table)
MonthRecords
January13
February14
March9
April22
May29
June37
July11
August6
September21
October18
November14
December9

Monthly eastern mole occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Tennessee, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Tennessee, with recorded sightings peaking in May–June.

Occurrence map

Where Eastern Mole has been recorded in Tennessee

205 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

205 Tennessee records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Seven Islands 3
Long Hunter 2
Montgomery Bell 1
Cummins Falls 1
Cheatham Lake Wildlife Management Area 1
Lick Creek Wildlife Management Area 1
Natchez Trace State Forest 1
Pickett 1

Protected places with the most eastern mole sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Tennessee

CountyRecords
Shelby County 31
Davidson County 29
Hamilton County 19
Gibson County 12
Williamson County 11
Sumner County 10
Knox County 9
Putnam County 5
Sequatchie County 5
Cheatham County 4
Robertson County 4
Montgomery County 4
41 other counties 68

The complete county distribution, spread across 53 Tennessee counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Tennessee’s eastern mole records span the state rather than clustering in one place: Meeman-Shelby Forest in the West Tennessee lowlands, and Pickett State Park with Big South Fork on the Cumberland Plateau, each contributing a single recorded sighting. No site stands out as a hotspot, which fits a species that lives almost entirely underground and gets noticed by its molehills and tunnel ridges rather than by direct sightings.

June holds the highest count, with May close behind, while August drops to the year’s lowest total. Wet spring soil probably makes fresh tunneling easier to spot, since that’s when moles push up ridges while hunting earthworms near the surface. Records continue at a lower level through the rest of the year, tracking when people notice mole sign more than when moles are actually most active underground.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

More mammals in Tennessee in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"