Unlike Ohio’s other moles, which favor dry upland lawns and fields, the star-nosed mole is a semi-aquatic species, digging through wet soils along stream banks and marsh edges. Its 127 records lean toward wetter forested ground near sites like Cuyahoga Valley National Park rather than open farmland, and its odd fringe of fleshy tentacles around the nose lets it feel for prey both underground and while swimming.
Records rise to a June high point and stay low through the darker months, though this species is active year-round, including under snow and ice in winter, when it can still forage in flooded tunnels most observers never see. NatureServe ranks it S3, vulnerable, in Ohio, reflecting how tied it is to shrinking wetland habitat.
