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.
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.
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)
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).
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.
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 Nahuatlmōlli: “sauce”.
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)
Wind and the Willows is possibly one of the most famous English story’s that features a mole. It was originally produced as a book written by Kenneth Grahame and published by Methuen in 1908 and since then a number of abridged versions have been published by many. More details can be found here.
BBC produced a radio version in 1983 read by Bernard Cribbins. This is available to listen to here.
It has been shown on television in a variety of formats including this Thames Television production (1989)
This is the opening titles to the 1980s Cosgrove-Hall television series of The Wind In The Willows. The theme tune is sung by Ralph McTell.
Wind in the Willows is current inception is as a theatre production by Royal Opera House.
The Vaudeville Theatre play at the Royal Opera House is available to see until the end of January 2015. Choreographed and directed by Will Tuckett. Find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk/willows.
We know them best via the government agency’s MI6, the CIA and Mossad. These intelligence agency’s have become popularised through film and television programmes, such as ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ by John Le Carré (1974).
This is a trailer from the film adapted from Le Carré‘s book (2011). Director: Tomas Alfredson. For full film credits click here.
If you wish to know more the CIA produced this review: