Talpidae (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The family Talpidae includes the moles, shrew moles, desmans, and other intermediate forms of small insectivorous mammals of the order Soricomorpha. Moles are, to varying degrees, subterranean animals, whilst desmans are aquatic. Talpids are found across the northern hemisphere, in Asia, Europe, and North America, although there are none in Ireland or anywhere in the Americas south of northern Mexico. The first talpids evolved from shrew-like animals in the late Eocene of Europe. The most primitive living talpids are believed to be the shrew-like moles, with other species having evolved further into either subterranean or aquatic lifestyles.