The European mole has a wide range throughout Europe and westernmost Asia, being found as far north as the United Kingdom and southern Scandinavia, as far south as northern Greece, and as far east as western Siberia.

The Loire River in France was thought to form the western barrier to the species' range, separating it from the Aquitanian mole, but studies indicate that while this is largely true, it is not a strict barrier, as member of either species have been found on opposite sides of the river, likely making them sympatric in at least some places.

European moles with white, light grey, tan, taupe, and black fur have all been reported.

[10] T. europaea have also been found to spend a lot of time at the sides of drainage lines and streams but do not inhabit flooded or dry soils.

Factors such as the type of soil, vegetation present, and altitude have no effect on the areas that moles choose to inhabit.

[11] In suitable urban greenspace, an area of 10 hectares is required for population persistence, and the number of mole territories increases with available habitat.

[13] One common belief about European moles is that they typically consume their own weight in food every 24 hours, but this is an exaggeration.

Studies have been performed that show European moles eat about half of their body weight in food each day.

When in captivity, European moles will eat a wide variety of food items, including liver, mice, mealworms, shrews and maggots.

Instead they all have one uniform shape with three distinct features: Studies have shown that T. europaea does have photopic vision, contrary to popular belief that all moles are blind.

In a study of the mole eyes it was found that Talpa withdraws when exposed to a flashlight and it can also perform light/dark discrimination tasks.

The cone cells in the eye are unlikely to provide high-resolution vision but they could allow a detection of movement and some hue discrimination.

[15] In mammals, the cues for hearing are usually based on inter-aural intensity differences, which occur as a result of the diffraction of a progressive sound wave by the head and pinna.

The results of several studies confirm that there is good transmission through the European mole's head for a range of low frequencies.

This system has never been suggested for a mammal in the past, but reptiles, amphibia, birds, and crickets have been shown to have a direct air pathway between the tympana.

The extra-calcified elements are created from small, calcified particles that are found in the fibrous part of the flexor digitorum profundus.