• Question: why are moles blind?

    Asked by sara2012 to David, Jonathan, Pete, Sam on 8 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Pete Etchells

      Pete Etchells answered on 8 Jul 2012:

      The moles that we see in Britain aren’t completely blind, but they do have very small eyes which they keep shut quite a lot in order to keep dirt out of them. The reason that they don’t really need good eyesight is because they spend the majority of their time underground where it’s too dark to see – instead, they rely on their hearing and sense of smell to get around. Their eyesight is probably good enough to detect light, but probably not colours.

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