Talpidae

Talpidae is a family of small insectivorous mammals in the order Eulipotyphla, including the true moles, the shrew moles, and the desmans. The family is divided into three subfamilies containing nineteen genera and fifty nine species, ranging in size from shrew moles under twelve grams to Russian desmans of about five hundred fifty grams. Talpids are small, dark-furred animals with cylindrical bodies and hairless tubular snouts, and nearly all are digging animals to some degree, from fully subterranean moles to the semi-aquatic desmans, which excavate dry sleeping chambers. They are found across the Northern Hemisphere of Eurasia and North America, but are absent from Ireland and from the Americas south of northern Mexico.