Mexican Mole Lizard.

Image from here.

The Mexican mole lizard (Bipes biporus), commonly known as the five-toed worm lizard, or simply as Bipes, is a species of amphisbaenian, which is from Baja California, Mexico.

According to Urban legend these creatures “enter your body by the most unspeakable means”, while on the toilet.

These egg laying earth-worm like lizards have only two front arms which they use along with their strong head to dig underground burrows where they spend most of their life. They are in-fact harmless.

Digital Object – Online sources (for more information: The Reptile Database).

 

Mole Skeleton

This is a skeleton of a european mole at the Grant Museum. It is a much better photograph then the one I took, and the ones provided in the museum catalogue. It is from here. 

The combination of the distinct evolutionary features of the moles, as this skeleton shows and the fact moles were (and still are) considered a pest and in an abundance, is likely to be the reason that they were used in teaching so much, their abundance in the museum and the moles subsequent residing within the glass jar.

Courtesy of Teaching and Research Collections and UCL Museums.

Physical Object available to view at UCL Museums (search Grant Museum Catalogue: NON446)

Digital Object – Online sources.

Mole-Rats

Not to be confused with Mallrats. Mole-Rat is a general term for a number of unrelated groups of burrowing rodents, called blesmols.

The Naked Mole-Rat is probably the more unusual looking of the burrowing rodents, they are from the horn of Africa. They are  about 8-10 cm long and can live for up to 30 years, substantially longer then other rodents.

This study suggests due to their long life and unusual resistance to disease, in particular cancer, they would be particularly useful in genome experiments.

It is unclear if this truly is a mole rat, although it has been called so. Image from @JillJ_194 (origin unknown). But it is too good a photo not to include.

It seems our Glass Jar of Moles is not the only one with ther own twitter account. The Naked Mole Rat has one too; @TehNakedMoleRat (Described as: @Eusocialist. Tunneller. Warrior. The Sabre-Toothed Sausage – BBC)

This naked mole-rat came from a zoo. Image from here. Courtesy of Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

For more information on these Zambian mole-rats (and on this image) click here.

Physical Object available to view at UCL Museums (search Grant Museum Catalogue: Z1460 ).

Digital Object – Online sources. (search arkive.org for more variations).

Physical Object borrowed from non UCL Museum collection. Available to view ( At Pittsburgh Zoo, among many others).

The Mole People

The idea of ‘Mole People’ living underground is both urban folklore and reality. In Film and Television, they are usually appear as monster-like creatures.

The Mole People myth is thought to stem from urban myths. The are a number of video’s, articles and books on the subject suggest this is an American phenomenon, that occurs in particular within New York but also other large cities such as Las Vegas and Chicago. As shown in this short film ‘Tunnel People’ by Journeyman Pictures (2011).

Jennifer Toth wrote a book on the subject in 1993. Her claims have been contested by some since (here is a link to just one).

Physical Object borrowed from non UCL Museum collection. Available to view (Toth’s book is here in the British Library).

Digital Object – Online sources.

Physical Object available to view/buy.

Mole Feet Amulets

These two mole’s feet were carried in a pocket as an amulet to protect from toothache, collected in England (around 1933). They are part of the Pitt Rivers Museum. For much more details on this object and to see related objects please visit their online catalogue.

Image credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images

Digital Object – Online sources.

Physical Object borrowed from non UCL Museum collection. Available to view (Here in the Pitt Rivers Museum Catalogue).

Cooking with Moles

Mole sauce does not contain any mole. Indeed, it is generally stated that moles do not make good food; check out this blog by ediblegeography.com.

Mole Sauce is the generic name for a number of sauces originally used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces. It comes in a variety of colours with a variety of ingredients. It is derived from Spanish and comes from Nahuatl mōlli: “sauce”.

Here are some recipes.

Black Bean Mole Burgers.

Tequila-Marinated Chicken with Mexican Mole Sauce
Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse
SHOW:The Essence of Emeril
EPISODE: Essence of Chocolate

“How to make Mole sauce’. By The Frugal Chef

Digital Objects – Online sources.

Holy Moley / Holy Moly

Holy Moley / Holy Moly : This is a saying. c. 1892 It is an expression of surprise. Place of origin is unknown.

This is Cathy Davey singing ‘Holy Moly’ From the album: ‘Something Ilk’ Regal Recordings, 2004. It is also featured in film ‘The Disappearance of Alice Creed’ 2009. Director: J Blakeson.

This was uploaded by Brooke onto YouTube on the 18 Feb 2012.

Digital Object – Online sources

Physical Object available to view/buy.

Moledom

 

Moledom is the name of the community of moles within the series  Duncton Chronicles written about by William Horwood. Here, as with ‘Wind in the Willows‘ the moles are given human elements (speech and faith for example) although unlike ‘Wind in the Willows’, they are limited to the physical behaviours of their real-world burrow-dwelling counterparts and neither wear clothing nor exhibit any special technological aptitude.

The author provides much more information about Moledom on this website.

This is an image of the American edition. Illustrator Unknown.

 Digital Object – Online sources.

Physical Object borrowed from non UCL Museum collection. Available to view at The British Library)

Physical Object available to view/buy.

Whats that mole on my skin?

The moles on our bodies are small coloured spots on the skin made up of cells called melanocytes, which produce the pigment in your skin. They can be flat or raised. Exposure to the sun stimulates the melanocytes and they can darken. When they are flat they are often called freckles. The raised moles, if you squinted your eyes, could resemble tiny mole hills, with a bit of imagination.

How to identify a mole: from Embarrassing Bodies.

Please contact the UCL Pathology Collections to view (image z7.jpg).

This sample was taken from a post-mortem of a woman aged 43 years old who died of gastric carcinoma. It is an example of congenitally pigmented skin. Location: UCL Pathology Collections. Rights:  UCL Pathology Collections, UCL Museums.

Melanocytes can transform in to melanomas which cause cancer.

The NHS have a useful guide to moles here.

 

Courtesy of Teaching and Research Collections and UCL Museums.

Digital Objects – online sources.

Physical Object available to view at UCL Museums.

Restricted content.

Hello my name is Mole.

This image is from here.

Adrian Mole, although fictional, is one of the most famous people with the surname Mole. He is the main character in ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4’.  There are seven other books in the series and he is so popular there is a whole Wiki page about him.

Books. Published by Methuen, between 1982-2009. Author: Sue Townsend.

There are many other (real) people with the surname ‘Mole’.

Physical Object borrowed from non UCL Museum collection. Available to view (here in the British Library).

Digital Object – online sources.

Physical Object available to buy.