18 Moles in Jar

Available for viewing (and more information on) at: Grant Museum, London.Image copyright held by : UCL Museums/Grant Museum.

This jar contains 18 moles. According the Mark Carnall, the curator of the Grant Museum how they came to be here it is not quite known, although it is thought that they might have been used for teaching and research in zoology and comparative anatomy, which historically included animal dissection.

The Glass Jar of Moles has it’s own twitter account, @GlassJarOfMoles. This is how they are described on twitter: “We many moles proudly reside at @GrantMuseum. A disparate lot, our interests lie in adventure, science, equality, educational disadvantage, history & worms.”

These moles also appear on the Museum of Unthings, providing an interesting, alternative story to this object.

The Grant Museum has an adoption facility. You can not adopt these moles as someone already has, though there are many others you could chose from. Check here if your interested.

Image courtesy of Teaching and Research Collections and UCL Museums.

Physical Object available to view at UCL Museums. (Search Grant Museum Catalogue: Z2754 )

Digital Object – Online sources.

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.

Taxidermy Moles

Title: Taxidermy ‘Moroccan mole dressed in a Fez hat’ and ‘Mr. Moley’.

Date: Oct 20, 2013

Producer: Julie Johnson. Description: Making My Moles (click on image for blog post by maker).

This is derived from the taxidermy then that found at the Grant Museum search Grant Museum Catalogue for an example of a taxidermy mole), although it is created for different purposes. This form of taxidermy has received criticism from some.

Here is an article discussing these attitudes by Matthew Bell from The Independent Online titled: ‘Stuff and nonsense’

Physical Object available to view/buy.

Digital Objects – Online sources (available here).

Physical Object available to view at UCL Museums (search Grant Museum Catalogue: Z591 ).

Courtesy of Teaching and Research Collections and UCL Museums.

Golden Moles are not moles.

The golden mole is very similar to the European mole, and yet it is, according to Linnaean taxonomy is from a completely different family. There are approx. nine variations of golden mole. For a list here is a helpful wikipage.

Taxidermy specimen. Mounted taxidermy specimen on black wooden plinth. Chrysospalax trevelyanus (Giant golden mole). Identified by: Carnall, Mark (2013-06-20). Image by: UCL Museums. Rights: UCL Museums.

This is just one available to see at the Grant Museum. There are more on display.

This is a clip from ‘The Life of Mammals’ narrated by David Attenborough for BBC. It shows a golden mole hunting and burrowing in the sand. For more information on this series click here.

The programme first shown 2008 on BBC. Uploaded by lifeonearthclips.

Image courtesy of Teaching and Research Collections and UCL Museums.

Physical Object available to view at UCL Museums. (search Grant Museum Catalogue: Z592 )

Digital Objects – Online sources.

Physical Object available to view/buy.

A Jar of Marsupial (not a) Mole.

The marsupial mole is not a mole according to Linnaean taxonomy and the labels in the Grant Museum. Although it evolved to burrow like the European mole and the golden mole, all three are from different families. The marsupial mole is actually made up of two species (six or some variations in all) that are very similar. More information is provided by our good friends at Wiki.

This is what one of the marsupial moles the Grant Museum have look like. (Notoryctes typhlops). Available to view (and more information about) at the Grant Museum, London.

For more information on this mole, here is an article from Science Daily (2010):

Title: Do holes make moles? Surprising first ancestor of bizarre marsupial moles

Image courtesy of Teaching and Research Collections and UCL Museums.

Physical Object available to view at UCL Museums (search Grant Museum Catalogue: Z81 ).

Digital Objects – Online sources

Dissecting a mole

This is a Partially dissected marsupial mole from the Grant Museum.

youtube.com/watch?v=7Zc5JgQ1fl8

(Please copy and paste link into search engine to view)

This clip shows a mole being dissected. It was uploaded to YouTube in 2012 by Eric Smith.

Image courtesy of Teaching and Research Collections and UCL Museums.

Digital Objects – Online sources.

Restricted content.

Mole Trapping

youtube.com/watch?v=P7k0VbeG_2k

(Please copy and paste link into search engine to view.)

Date: 17 Jun 2012

Producer/Contributor: freedomofabird

Source: YouTube

Description(by producer): ‘A short video of a couple of trips out with the boys and the patterdale pup, setting some mole traps in a field of young grass, and then checking them for results’.

(Video contains recently killed moles).

Click here for the Guild of British Molecatchers

Digtial Objects – Online sources.

Restricted content.