Japanese Shrew Mole

Fascinating facts about the Japanese Shrew Mole

• Between sea level and roughly 2,000 m you’ll find this tiny mole weaving tunnels across Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and a string of smaller islands, yet it never crosses north of Blakiston’s Line into Hokkaido.
• When Heinrich Bürger collected dead specimens near Dejima between 1824 and 1826, the find traveled all the way to the Netherlands before Coenraad Temminck finally described the creature, highlighting how early global trade routes unintentionally documented Japan’s hidden fauna.
• Despite being an omnivore, its meals are dominated by soil-dwelling invertebrates and plant material, which explains why the animal prefers nutrient-rich soils, a reminder that even the tiniest mammals can shape and depend on the health of the ground they burrow.

At a glance

About the Japanese Shrew Mole

The Japanese shrew mole (Urotrichus talpoides), known locally as himizu, is a mammal of the Talpidae family. Endemic to Japan, it inhabits habitats from sea level up to roughly 2,000 m on Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and several smaller islands, including Awaji, Shodo, the Oki, Tsushima, Goto, Mishima (Yamaguchi Prefecture), and Awashima (Niigata Prefecture), and it is absent from Hokkaido, north of Blakiston's Line. It is an omnivore, with a diet largely composed of invertebrates and plants.

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