What mammal has a star-shaped nose?

The star-nosed mole is the mammal with a star-shaped nose. This small, semiaquatic mole lives in wet lowlands across parts of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, where its unusual nose helps it hunt in darkness and muddy water.

The apparent star is made of 22 fleshy appendages surrounding the nostrils. These tendrils are covered with about 25,000 tiny touch receptors called Eimer's organs, turning the nose into an extraordinarily sensitive tactile organ. The mole is functionally blind, so it relies on touch rather than vision to identify prey such as worms, insects, and small aquatic invertebrates.

The nose is not an extra hand, an organ for smelling electricity, or a set of miniature tentacles used to grab food. Its main role is mechanical sensing: the mole rapidly taps and examines objects with the appendages. It can decide whether prey is edible in only a few milliseconds and may locate and consume several prey items in under two seconds. Shrews and ordinary moles may have sensitive snouts, but only the star-nosed mole has this distinctive star-shaped structure.