The mole is the burrowing animal that can navigate its tunnels despite having extremely poor eyesight.
Moles are small, subterranean mammals adapted almost entirely to life underground. Their eyes are tiny and, in some species, partly covered by skin or fur. Rather than relying on clear vision, they use sensitive whiskers, touch receptors, smell, and hearing to locate prey and orient themselves in dark tunnel systems.
A mole's broad, shovel-like forefeet are turned outward for pushing soil, allowing it to excavate rapidly. The tunnels serve as travel routes and hunting grounds, where moles search for earthworms, insect larvae, and other soil invertebrates. Their underground networks can include shallow feeding tunnels and deeper chambers used for shelter.
“Almost blind” does not mean completely blind: moles generally retain functional eyes, although vision is limited and not central to their survival. They are also often confused with rodents, but moles belong to the mammalian order Eulipotyphla and are more closely related to shrews than to rats or mice. In contrast, a mole in common speech can also mean a skin mark or an undercover informant.