[5] They all have differences in size and color, but have a similar appearance” with compact fusiform or lozenge-shaped bodies, short and powerful forelimbs containing pick-like claws, and no external eyes, ears or tail”.

Their skin is thick and tough, especially on the head, containing a wedge-shaped muzzle with a leathery nosepad protecting its nostrils.

Genera Amblysomus and Neamblysomus use the head and webbed hind feet to move soil and evict it on the surface.

[5] On the outside, they are similar to other fossorial small mammals, but the golden moles show highly specialized characters like “a unique hyoid-dentary articulation.

Some also have hypertrophied malleus bones in the middle ear that permits great sensitivity to underground vibrations and airborne sounds.

The golden mole thrusts its forearms from under its body to help it burrow deeper into the earth.

[5] Studies show that tenrecs and golden moles should be separated from Insectivora and placed in Afrotheria which include the elephant shrews and hyraxes.

Mitochondrial/nuclear gene sequences and rare genomic changes demonstrated that chrysochlorids and tenrecs form their own clade, Afrosoricida (African shrew-like mammals).

The South African species fall into two ecological groups: semi-desert (Eremitalpa granti, Cryptochloris zyli and C. wintoni), karroid (Chrysochloris visagiei) or fynbos habitats (Chrysochloris asiatica) along the south-west coast; and indigenous forests, savanna woodlands and temperate grasslands in the eastern part of the subregion (Chrysospalax, Chlorotalpa, Calcochloris, Neamblysomus and Amblysomus).

Other species, such as Sclater's golden mole (Chlorotalpa sclateri), probably have more restricted ranges than general texts indicate, since the few populations known to exist occur at localities separated by wide expanses of seemingly inhospitable habitat.

[5] Despite a high thermal conductance, the golden mole has a low basal metabolic rate.

[5] Most golden mole species are restricted to a narrow range of habitats and environmental conditions.

[5] Populations of golden moles are restricted to patches of habitat with friable soils and abundant invertebrates.

If two species occur in the same area they tend to occupy different microhabitats due to ecological displacement.

[5] In courtship the male chirrups, bobs his head and stomps his foot and the female rasps and squeals.

Reproductive data suggests that golden moles breed throughout the year, but peaks in the wetter months when food is more abundant.

The Hottentot golden mole will fight aggressively with either sex by using their foreclaws to wrestle, and biting at the abdomen.

Populations subjected to habitat degradation due to human activities like mining, urbanization, agriculture and the poor forest management.

Suggested from 12S ribosomal RNA transversions, African radiation came from a single common ancestor and gave rise to divergence during Cretaceous period.

Golden moles differ in the nature and extent of the interbullar connection, the shape of the tympanic membrane and that of the manubrium.

It has been proposed that hypertrophied ossicles in golden moles are adapted towards the detection of seismic vibrations.

The functional morphology of the middle ear apparatus is reconsidered in this light, and it is proposed that adaptations towards low-frequency airborne hearing might have predisposed golden moles towards the evolution of seismic sensitivity through inertial bone conduction.

The morphology of the middle ear apparatus sheds little light on the disputed ordinal position of the Chrysochloridae.”[8] Abstract: The densities of middle ear ossicles of golden moles (family Chrysochloridae, order Afrosoricida) were measured using the buoyancy method.

The internal structure of the malleus was examined by high-resolution computed tomography, and solid-state NMR was used to determine relative phosphorus content.

This high density is expected to augment inertial bone conduction, used for the detection of seismic vibrations, while limiting the skull modifications needed to accommodate the disproportionately large malleus.

Many mammalian systematists believed that golden moles (Chrysochloridae) were “insectivorans” along with shrews and hedgehogs.

Relatedly, tenrecids and chrysochlorids are generally reconstructed as sister taxa, except for those studies just noted.

Different resolutions of intra-afrotherian phylogeny, particularly the intriguing possibility that tenrecids, chrysochlorids, and macroscelidids are more basal than paenungulates have important implications for understanding the afrotherian common ancestor as occupying either an ungulate- or insectivoran-grade niche.

For example, Leche argued that in tenrecs and golden moles, “der Zahnwechsel in eine sehr späte Lebensphase fällt” (“tooth replacement occurs in a very late period of life”) based on the observation that individuals of adult size retain deciduous teeth and/or have not yet erupted their permanent successors”.