Kentucky’s occurrence data hold 24 records of the hairy-tailed mole, split fairly evenly between iNaturalist and GBIF entries, all of them from the eastern part of the state.
Kentucky sits at this mole’s southwestern edge
The hairy-tailed mole is mainly a species of the Northeast and the Appalachians, and Kentucky’s cluster of records around Daniel Boone National Forest and Red River Gorge sits near the southwestern tip of that range. The forested ridges, sandstone cliffs, and headwater streams of the Cumberland Plateau give it the loose, humus-rich soil it needs to dig; the state’s flatter Bluegrass and western farmland don’t offer the same digging conditions, which likely explains why records don’t extend that far.
A tunnel system built for one animal
Like other moles, it spends almost all its life underground, pushing shallow tunnels through loose forest soil to hunt earthworms and grubs, and it rarely surfaces where anyone could see it. That underground life means most confirmed Kentucky records come from incidental digging, trapping, or predator kills rather than a mole caught in the open.
Status in Kentucky
The hairy-tailed mole is native to Kentucky and isn’t flagged as nonindigenous by USGS NAS. NatureServe ranks it S4, apparently secure, within the narrow band of eastern Kentucky habitat it actually reaches.
