Getting to Know the Relatives

Having spent a great part of my young childhood on my hands and knees in the woods and swamps of Western New York, I have many animal-encounter memories. Better said: young, wide-eyed human and other strange animal encounters. The best kind. One of my favorites: the star-nosed mole.

Condylura cristata is one of the most distinctive mammal species. Its nose is hairless and is ringed by a unique 'star' of 22 pink, fleshy tentacles. The star is bilaterally symmetrical with 11 appendages per side that vary in length from between 1 and 4 mm.

Twenty-two. It's always been my favorite number. Thought it had to do with my twin sister. But I may have just really like star-nosed moles…and been an unconsciously fast counter.



How could you not love being on Earth seeing that?

Live Science:

A new detailed study of tiny touch receptors, called "Eimer's organs," on the tip of a mole's nose reveals how the animals do it.

For moles, the Eimer's organs serve the function of whiskers found in most small mammals and fingers in humans. By touching their noses to the ground repeatedly, the animals explore their surroundings and discriminate between different objects.

Using fluorescent dyes, the researchers found that the Eimer's organs in the coast mole and the odd-looking star-nosed mole are composed of a column of skin cells, around which numerous nerve endings are arranged. An outer ring of nerves interlacing the column function as high-threshold pain receptors, while nerves within the cell column act as low-threshold touch receptors.

The researchers think that this organization allows the outer nerves to sense abrasive or potentially harmful areas before the more sensitive inner nerves come into contact with them.

Scanning electron micrograph image of mole appendages covered with Eimer's organs. Credit: Kenneth Catania


Oh, by the way, Eimer’s organs were named, of course, after Gustav Heinrich Theodor Eimer (1843-1898).