Colours of Wildlife: Cape Blesmol

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Cape Blesmol

Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

Cape Blesmol by Willem


Here I have for you an ugly-cute little critter! This is a Cape Blesmol, Georychus capensis. The name 'Blesmol' means 'Blaze-Mole' and refers to the white patch it has on its head. It is unusually boldly patterned for a subterranean animal! This species reaches a length of 25 cm and a weight of 360g/13 oz. It occurs mostly in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, but also in a few localities in the east and north. It enjoys areas with loose, sandy soil, from coastal dunes to inland valleys.

A Unique Lineage of Burrowers


The Cape Blesmol belongs to a uniquely African family, the Bathyergidae. They occur in most habitats south of the Sahara Desert, apart from moist rainforests. Most species are found in Southern or Eastern Africa. The strangest one is the Naked Mole-Rat, or Sand Puppy, which I hope I'll feature here soon. It occurs in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.


It is hard to work out to which animals the blesmols are related. They are certainly rodents, with their big gnawing front teeth, and other features of their skulls and skeletons linking them to regular rodents like mice and squirrels. But they've become so extremely specialized that their bodies have been modified to the degree that comparisons with other things become difficult. They may indeed be most closely related to porcupines. They are not closely related to the Golden Moles, which constitute another purely African family, but of an entirely different order of mammals. They're not closely related to the moles of Europe, Asia and America either – those are members of the Insectivora. Unlike the golden and northern moles, the blesmols are mainly vegetarians. In this they are similar to the mole-rats that occur from north-eastern Africa northwards into Europe and Asia, but again are not particularly closely related to those, which are more closely related to mice and rats.


In adapting to a subterranean life, blesmols have almost completely lost their eyes. All they have left, are tiny black buttons with very poor resolving power. Their ears are also reduced to small holes in the sides of their skulls, so as not to get into the way while they dig. To make up for the loss of sight, their bodies are very sensitive and can pick up vibrations in the soil. Their fur is soft, sleek and tough, resistant to the abrading soil. They have long claws, and short tails. But their digging apparatus is mostly in their faces!


Indeed, they use their big, gnawing teeth for digging. These, like those of other rodents, keep growing throughout their lives. Because of actually gnawing sand and soil, their incisor teeth abrade even faster than those of other rodents, and consequently need to grow much faster as well. Their incisors have huge roots, filling the interiors of most of their skulls and reaching back to behind the level of their eyes.


Another funny thing about their incisors is that they protrude even when the moles' mouths are closed! Indeed, their front teeth actually poke through their lips! This means that they can close their lips behind their front teeth while they're digging, thereby keeping all the sand and soil out of their mouths! They also dig with their front feet; they use their hind feet and muscular rump to shove the excavated soil away.


Blesmols have rather flat, pink, pig-like snouts with nostrils facing forwards. Dense hairs keep the soil out of their nostrils. They probably use smell to locate food. They eat mainly roots, tubers and subterranean bulbs. For this reason, and because they 'spoil' the neat look of gardens with the spoil heaps they push out, they're usually considered pests by farmers and suburban gardeners.


Overall, this species is not very well known. This is pretty much par for the course for burrowing animals. The known populations are of patchy occurrence; it is probable that there are intermediate, linking populations not yet known. Cape Blesmols are quite variable in appearance … most of them have the bold facial markings, but the body colour varies from light grey to creamy orange, with darker patches on the back. There have been a few albinos recorded. They also vary in size, those close to the coast being smaller than the ones inland.


Cape Blesmols dig tunnels close to the soil surface, pushing up molehills every here and there. They probably store some of the food they gather in these tunnels to eat later. They're very fecund, having litters of up to ten pups. Consequently, even though they're persecuted by humans, they are not at present endangered.

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