sand-mole, noun

Origin:
South African DutchShow more Translation of South African Dutch zandmol, see zand-mol.
The large subterranean rodent Bathyergus suillus of the Bathyergidae, which burrows in the coastal sand dunes of the Western Cape; blesmol sense b; Cape dune molerat, see molerat sense 2; molerat sense 1 a; zand-mol.
1850 A. White Pop. Hist. Mammalia 232Another member of this family..is also a native of South Africa: this is the Coast Rat or Sand-Mole (Bathyergus maritimus).
1905 W.L. Sclater in Flint & Gilchrist Science in S. Afr. 134To the family Bathyergidae belong the Rodent-Moles; there are seven or eight species described, the best known being the large Sand Mole (Bathyergus maritimus), which forms long burrows all over the sand-hills in the neighbourhood of Cape Town.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 112The Sand-mole, Bathyergus maritimus, is as large as a half-grown rabbit, it burrows in the sand of the Cape Flats and similar localities...Its food consists of bulbs and roots.
1918 S.H. Skaife Animal Life in S. Afr. 255The heaps of sand thrown up by the large sand mole are familiar sights on the Cape Flats, and in sandy districts around the coast.
1972 C.M. Van der Westhuizen in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. VII. 490The largest mole-rat is the Cape sand-mole or dune mole (Bathyergus).
The large subterranean rodent Bathyergus suillus of the Bathyergidae, which burrows in the coastal sand dunes of the Western Cape; blesmol sense b; Cape dune molerat, see molerat sense 2; molerat sense 1 a; zand-mol.
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