The mole lives in constant darkness, and so is blind. It digs in the earth, eating roots and piling up soil. Its hearing is so acute that it cannot be taken by surprise. Richard de Fournival in the Bestiaire d'Amour says that the mole only eats pure earth, an assertion not found elsewhere.

The mole is used as the symbolic animal representing the element earth.

Vincent de Beauvais says that the ashes of a burnt mole are effective against fistula, namely for consuming its putrefaction.