The family Talpidae includes the moles, shrew moles, desmans, and other intermediate forms of small insectivorous mammals
of the order Soricomorpha. Moles are, to varying degrees, subterranean animals, whilst desmans are aquatic. Talpids are found
across the northern hemisphere, in Asia, Europe, and North America, although there are none in Ireland or anywhere in the
Americas south of northern Mexico. The first talpids evolved from shrew-like animals in the late Eocene of Europe.