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| By Didier Descouens (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Most folks who even think about them regard moles (the animal) as a small, gross, ratty mammals which destroy lawns. What they may not realize is that, for a while, moles were highly prized in the fur trade.
In the early 1900s, Queen Alexandra, the wife of Britain's King Edward VII, ordered a mole-fur garment and started a vigorous fashion trend which resulted in a thriving industry in Scotland of converting what had been major pests into little patches of fur and sewing them together for coats and other wearing apparel. Because the mole travels backwards into his tunnel almost as often as he goes forward, the fur is very short and dense and has little nap. As such, it is very soft and velvety.
Moles have a strange biochemistry which enables them to breathe in very low oxygen areas, such as their tunnels. They decompose extremely rapidly, which means that they had to be skinned almost immediately after their demise in order to avoid ruining the pelt.
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| 1921 MAGAZINE FUR AD FEATURING A MOLESKIN COAT |
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