Scientists at the University of Cape Town got a good response when they published an appeal asking people to help them collect Cape golden moles for research projects.
Their research may help develop hearing aids for human beings and, perhaps, also cast some light on the rate of ageing in mammals.
At this time of the year Cape Town gardeners often find meandering ridges of soil disfiguring their lawns and flowerbeds, usually after rain.
The culprits are Cape golden or runner moles (not to be confused with the much larger mole-rats). They are small, plump animals that, in one night, can make a bowling green look like a haphazardly ploughed field.
Gary Bronner of the Small Mammals Research Unit told Weekend Argus that the unit had now acquired more than enough animals. "We may call on the public again when new projects are initiated," he said.
"The Odendaal family from Pinelands even got us a lactating mother and a small baby mole. We seldom get baby moles because they only leave the nest, and thus become catchable, once they are nearly fully-grown. We keep the moles individually in large containers of soil and feed them earthworms, mealworms and strips of lamb's kidney. They love the kidney: we put it in little plastic dishes on the surface and they snatch it and disappear underground to eat it.
"Don't confuse golden moles with mole-rats, which are bigger animals with buck teeth that eat bulbs and push up molehills. We don't want mole-rats, which are rodents. Golden moles are much more closely related to elephants than to rats."
One of UCT's projects, with the department of physiological sciences at the University of California in Los Angeles, studies the function of the golden moles' huge ear-bones that are "about 250 times bigger than those of human beings, in relation to size", said Bronner.
"This is a unique anatomical adaptation to living underground. Golden moles are blind, so there is a compensatory specialisation of the middle ear so that they can rely on underground vibrations for navigating and detecting prey. This is where the research is related to hearing aids.
"Golden moles occur only in sub-Saharan Africa, so last year we shipped six to California. The research results were so interesting that the project is being expanded."
Bronner said another UCT research project was being conducted by zoology honours student Maria Honig. This related to how golden moles and mole-rats regulated blood glucose levels, and the chemical structure of their insulin hormones. It was part of a broader study being conducted by Rochelle Buffenstein, formerly of UCT and now at City University of New York.
"This research looks at the relationship between high levels of blood glucose (which can lead to protein damage and diabetes) and the rate at which ageing occurs in mammals.
"Naked mole-rats can live for 30 years, even though they are very small mammals and often show symptoms of diabetes. If we can understand how they manage to do this, we may gain a better understanding of the ageing process in mammals. There is potentially an applied medical relevance for ageing in human beings."
Bronner stressed that the golden moles were not killed or harmed by the research. "We follow strict ethical standards sanctioned by the UCT science faculty animal experimentation committee, and when the research is done, we release them into the wild."
Asked how to catch golden moles, Bronner said: "If I knew that, I'd be a rich man. Various mole traps are advertised, but none of them works very well. Golden moles are notoriously trap-shy. Many of the moles brought to us were rescued from dogs and cats.
"There is a current myth that the blood of golden moles does not clot: some people suggest putting barbed wire into the tunnels, the idea being that the moles will tangle with it and bleed to death.
"This is a blatant fallacy - the blood of golden moles clots, just like that of other mammals, and there is little chance that these wily creatures will blunder into such wires, although these may deter activity in an area.
"Some of the traps are really horrible. There's a 'harpoon' trap that impales the mole underground, which causes great suffering. Some people cut plastic bottles in half and push them into molehills: the theory is that the wind whistles through them and frightens the moles away, but they soon get used to it.
"And, of course, some people use poisons. I consider that not only irresponsible, but inhumane.
"Moles are very territorial. If they're caught and released reasonably close by, they'll soon be back. And there are so many of them that even if they don't come back, others will colonise the vacant territory.
So, getting rid of a mole in your garden is only a short-term solution, unless all your neighbours do the same. The best way to handle moles is to learn to live with them."