Thus, although the star is unique in its shape and size, it seems feasible that the structure is based on a more ancestral bauplan as it comprises similarities found in a wide range of other moles and also in the molecular structure of other mammals.

For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. Each book includes a non-fiction section written by co-author Steve Rickard, followed by a fiction story on the same topic, written by me. During exploration, the mole's star-like appendage produces brief touches which compress Eimer’s organ against objects or substrate. Rays 1 through 9 each have about 4 fibers per Eimer's organ, while rays 10 and 11 have significantly higher innervation densities of 5. There are two series of Starstruck books, twelve books in total, written under the pseudonym of Cathy West.

Fasting metabolism and thermoregulatory competence of the star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata (Talpidae: Condylurinae)". Written and illustrated by the award-winning Britta Teckentrup, this beautiful picture book will spark conversations about sharing, friendship and using the resources of our world responsibly.

Other important fact of the representation of the star in the cerebral cortex is that each hemisphere had clearly visible set of 11 stripes representing the contralateral star. The star itself is a centimeter across and thus has a diameter slightly smaller than a typical human fingertip. lonely Mole wishes on a shooting star to have all the stars in the sky keep him company in his tunnels and marvels at their beauty, but feels guilty when he finds that there are no stars for anyone else in the night sky and that others are bereft without them so he seeks to make it right.In only 8 milliseconds it can decide whether something is edible—in fact, this is one of the fastest responses to a stimulus in the animal kingdom [15] and is the reason why the star-nosed mole was lately recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s fastest forager. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. He enjoys the stars until he realises other creatures like deer, mouse, bear, fox and owl are all in darkness and miss the stars at night. This star-like nose also enables the mole to smell underwater, something which was previously thought impossible in mammals, which requires the inspiration of air during olfaction to convey odorants to the olfactory epithelium.

Instead, the hypothesis proposed by Catania, in which the function of the appendage is purely tactile, seems to be more feasible and is the one currently accepted. The appendages do not contain muscles or bones and are not used to manipulate objects or capture prey. Passionate about the importance of dialogical pedagogy, literacy and children’s books in education, she is frequently invited to be a keynote speaker in Ireland and the UK. According to optimal foraging theory, organisms forage in such a way as to maximize their net energy intake per unit time.

The star-nose is a highly specialized sensory-motor organ shaped by 22 fleshy finger-like appendages, or tendrils, that ring their nostrils and are in constant motion as the mole explores its environment. Electrophysiological experiments using electrodes placed on the cortex during stimulation of the body demonstrated that roughly 52% of the cortex is devoted to the nose. There's just one problem: now that Mole's burrow is full of beautiful, shining stars, none of the other animals can enjoy them . A report in the journal Nature gives this animal the title of fastest-eating mammal, taking as little as 120 milliseconds (average: 227 ms) to identify and consume individual food items.