Teaching overview

Learning points

  • Like all moles, the star-nosed mole has very bad eyesight.
  • Instead of looking for food, the star-nosed mole feels around for it with the fleshy tentacles on its nose.
  • The star-nosed mole has many more touch sensors than a human hand, making it incredibly sensitive.

Curriculum keywords

  • Animals
  • Adaptation
  • Senses

Spark a discussion

  • How does the star-nosed mole's nose help it to find food?
  • Why do you think your nose and the star-nosed mole's nose are so different?
  • Can you think of any other animals that have unusual body parts – or that use their body parts in unusual ways?

Twig Science: A Complete Pre-K–8 Program for the NGSS

Immersive Investigations with High-Quality Multimedia

  • Investigating, designing, building, and understanding phenomena
  • Hands-on, digital, video, and print investigations
  • Synchronous/asynchronous distance learning