The hairy-tailed mole is a scarce entry in Virginia’s occurrence records, just 33 in total, and nearly all of them come from the state’s mountain counties. That thin count fits a species that lives almost entirely out of sight, tunneling under the soil surface rather than crossing open ground where anyone would notice it.
Restricted to loamy mountain soil
Unlike some of its relatives, the hairy-tailed mole needs the loose, well-drained loam typical of forested slopes rather than heavy clay or sandy coastal soil. In Virginia that confines it to the Blue Ridge and Appalachian highlands: records come from George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, Breaks Interstate Park in the far southwestern coalfields, and the ridgelines along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Piedmont and Coastal Plain don’t show up in its known Virginia range.
A tunnel-and-surface digger
This mole spends nearly its whole life below ground, pushing shallow surface ridges as it hunts earthworms and soil-dwelling insect larvae, and it only rarely surfaces where a person might see it. Most Virginia records land between May and August, when wetter topsoil pushes both the mole and its prey closer to the surface and its tunneling leaves more visible sign.
Status in Virginia
NatureServe ranks the hairy-tailed mole S5, secure, and it’s native to Virginia. Its scarcity in the record books reflects an underground life and a habitat narrowed to mountain forest soil, not a population in trouble.
