Blind golden mole that swims through sand rediscovered 87 years after ‘extinction’

A blind golden mole that can swim through sand has been rediscovered in South Africa 87 years after it was declared extinct.

Scientists were able to locate the mole in sand dunes in the northwest of the country, following a two-year search relying on DNA samples. A sniffer dog was also put to work, along with a team of conservationists and geneticists from the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).

When were these moles spotted last time?

The golden mole species had gone out of sight since 1936. About the size of a mouse or hamster, they were previously spotted in the small region of Port Nolloth in the Northern Cape.

Adding to the predicament, they are very hard to spot, owing to their over-sensitive ears, which can detect movement from above ground. Also, they live in largely inaccessible burrows and don’t leave tunnels behind them.

“Extracting DNA from soil is not without its challenges, but we have been honing our skills and refining our techniques – even before this project – and we were fairly confident that if De Winton’s golden mole was in the environment, we would be able to detect it by finding and sequencing its DNA,” said Samantha Mynhardt, conservation geneticist with the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Stellenbosch University, in a press release.

Extensive expedition efforts

The team of scientists was first able to detect the presence of the golden mole species in June 2021.

It was then that they surveyed up to 18kms of dunes a day, using a trained sniffer dog, while also relying on 100 soil samples from sites along the northwest coast where golden mole activity was detected.

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An analysis of the survey later confirmed the presence of golden mole in the dunes.

Biggest challenge

The scientists said the biggest challenge for them was to differentiate Cape golden mole and Grant’s golden mole from De Winton’s golden mole.

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The team had only one golden mole DNA sample for reference, and that’s why they had to wait for almost a year until they could confirm the presence of the much sought-after species.

(With inputs from agencies)