The Mole That Almost Wasn’t

In 1964, while examining the remains of various small creatures collected from inside a long disused old wood-fired oven in an outbuilding that had been the home of a family of Barn Owls in Giohar, Somalia, Professor Alberto Simonetta of the University of Florence broke open an owl pellet that contained part of the lower jaw and a few other small bones of a small mammal that didn’t fit any of which he knew. He would eventually describe it for science in 1968 as Calcochloris tytonis – the Somali Golden Mole. No other such member of its species, living or dead, has ever been known to be found; the type specimen, consisting solely of a few small bones, the largest just a bit longer than a centimeter in length, remain the only testimony to the existence of the species past or present.

For many people, this would be the end of the story – but not for Richard Girling. He wanted to know if anyone had ever gone looking for more of them. He wanted to know where such extraordinarily rare remnants of extraordinarily rare creatures are kept. He wanted to see the very type specimen of the Somali Golden Mole for himself. And it’s a very good thing he did, because had he not dedicated himself to pursuing the answers to such questions and recording his quest in The Hunt for the Golden Mole; All Creatures Great & Small and Why They Matter, we would not today be able to read of his adventures in the search for the remains of this admittedly obscure creature, nor would we learn along the way of the astonishing and curious histories behind the discoveries of a fascinating assortment of creatures ranging from the very well known to the head-scratchingly obscure, or follow his thoughts as he puzzles out a host of important but too seldom asked questions, the first and foremost of which being “Why should I care about a species so obscure that no one has ever seen one?”

It’s not a question easily answered, nor are some of the others spread throughout the book. “What is the actual purpose of wildlife conservation?” “To whom do the animals found in an area truly belong?” “Are some creatures more important to conserve than others – and if so, how are such distinctions to be made?” “What does it mean to be declared ‘extinct?’” And perhaps most important of all, “do animals in and of themselves have intrinsic value outside of the uses to which humans put them?”

However make no mistake, The Hunt for the Golden Mole is no mere philosophical exercise. In fact, it is somewhat difficult to categorize just what it is. Part natural history, part history of natural history, part zoology, part personal essay, and half a dozen other parts as well, it is a book that is quickly entered into and not easy to put down. Taking his readers along on the expeditions of nineteenth century big game hunters, through the collections of natural history museums, and into the field with biologists, they are introduced to African schoolchildren, conservation agents, curators, criminal investigators, bureaucrats, villagers, wildlife traffickers, and scientists of a wide variety of disciplinary shapes and sizes.

Also included among the cast are a host of animals, from such charismatic megafauna as the African Elephant and Northern White Rhinoceros to such little known and seldom seen wonders as the Long-beaked Echidna and Durrell’s Vontsira. Each one considered in regard not only to itself but in regard to how much effort is being expended – or not being expended – to ensure its continued existence (or for that matter, if anyone is even seeking to discover if it continues to do so).

The Hunt for the Golden Mole is a book that not only inspires thought, it demands it. The stories Girling tells are both interesting and memorable, and the questions he asks are provoking – they defy easy answers (sometimes they even defy complex ones). Long after the cover has been closed, the book’s contents will long continue to swirl in your mind, challenging you to reëvaluate much of what you may have previously thought about wildlife conservation and consider in a different light everything you learn about it in the future.

Title: The Hunt for the Golden Mole; All Creatures Great & Small and Why They Matter

Author: Richard Girling

Publisher: Chatto & Windus (UK), Counterpoint (US)

Format: Hardback

Pages: 312 pp.

ISBN: 9780701187156 (UK), 9781619024502 (US)

Published: June 2014 (UK), November 2014 (US)

The edition of The Hunt for the Golden Mole read for the creation of this review was the original UK edition as published in hardcover by Chatto & Windus.

In accordance with Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, it is disclosed that the copy of the book read in order to produce this review was provided gratis to the reviewer by the publisher.

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