One of the 2 desmans on WAnimals
Mammals · Eulipotyphla · Talpidae
Russian Desman
Desmana moschata
It faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. See full glossary
The Russian desman is an aquatic mole of the basins of eastern Russia and Ukraine, the only living representative of its genus. It is almost blind and finds its way with a highly sensitive mobile snout and long whiskers as it hunts invertebrates on the bottom. It digs burrows whose entrance lies under water and in which several adults may live together. Its waterproof fur and its musk gland, used in perfumery, made it the target of intensive hunting that, together with pollution and fishing nets, has caused its populations to collapse.
Weight
400 g – 520 g
Size
18 cm – 22 cm
Lifespan
4 years
Diet
Carnivore
Feeds mainly on other animals.
Activity
Nocturnal
Active mainly at night.
Social structure
Colony
Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.
Sighting difficulty
Hard
Fun facts
- Its laterally flattened tail and webbed hind feet make it an excellent swimmer, despite belonging to the same family as the burrowing moles.
- It is a living fossil: its lineage separated from that of the moles more than 30 million years ago, and only one other desman is left in the world, the Iberian one of the Pyrenees.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
- Habitat & environment
- Backwaters, oxbows and lagoons of the Volga, Don, Ural and Dnieper rivers
- Gestation / incubation
- 45 days
- Litter / clutch size
- 4
Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmana_moschata
Where to find it
See its range on the interactive mapRelated species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Russian Desman — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Iberian Desman
Galemys pyrenaicus
European Mole
Talpa europaea
Blakiston's Eagle-owl
Bubo blakistoni
Star-nosed Mole
Condylura cristata
Brown Rat
Rattus norvegicus
EndangeredTiger
Panthera tigris
How to help
The russian desman is classified as endangered. Organizations such as UICN, WWF y Wildlife Conservation Society work specifically on its conservation and that of its habitat; looking into their programs is a good starting point if you want to get involved.
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