Editing Mammal (section)

====Fossorial and subterranean====
{{Multiple image|align=right|image1=Wombat3.jpg|image2=ScalopusAquaticus.jpg|total_width=400|footer=Semi-fossorial [[Southern hairy-nosed wombat|wombat]] (left) vs. fully fossorial [[eastern mole]] (right)}}
{{See also|Fossorial|Burrow}}
A fossorial (from Latin ''fossor'', meaning "digger") is an animal adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are [[badger]]s, and [[naked mole-rat]]s. Many [[rodent]] species are also considered fossorial because they live in burrows for most but not all of the day. Species that live exclusively underground are subterranean, and those with limited adaptations to a fossorial lifestyle sub-fossorial. Some organisms are fossorial to aid in [[temperature regulation]] while others use the underground habitat for protection from [[predator]]s or for [[food storage]].<ref name=":2">Damiani, R, 2003, Earliest evidence of cynodont burrowing, The Royal Society Publishing, Volume 270, Issue 1525</ref>

Fossorial mammals have a fusiform body, thickest at the shoulders and tapering off at the tail and nose. Unable to see in the dark burrows, most have degenerated eyes, but degeneration varies between species; [[pocket gopher]]s, for example, are only semi-fossorial and have very small yet functional eyes, in the fully fossorial [[marsupial mole]], the eyes are degenerated and useless, ''[[Talpa (genus)|Talpa]]'' moles have [[vestigial]] eyes and the [[Cape golden mole]] has a layer of skin covering the eyes. External ears flaps are also very small or absent. Truly fossorial mammals have short, stout legs as strength is more important than speed to a burrowing mammal, but semi-fossorial mammals have [[cursorial]] legs. The front paws are broad and have strong claws to help in loosening dirt while excavating burrows, and the back paws have webbing, as well as claws, which aids in throwing loosened dirt backwards. Most have large incisors to prevent dirt from flying into their mouth.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=2455381|vauthors=Shimer HW|year=1903|title=Adaptations to Aquatic, Arboreal, Fossorial and Cursorial Habits in Mammals. III. Fossorial Adaptations|journal=The American Naturalist|volume=37|number=444|pages=819–825|doi=10.1086/278368|bibcode=1903ANat...37..819S |s2cid=83519668|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1431331|access-date=23 August 2020|archive-date=9 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409004021/https://zenodo.org/record/1431331|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many fossorial mammals such as shrews, hedgehogs, and moles were classified under the now obsolete order [[Insectivora]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Stanhope MJ, Waddell VG, Madsen O, de Jong W, Hedges SB, Cleven GC, Kao D, Springer MS | display-authors = 6 | title = Molecular evidence for multiple origins of Insectivora and for a new order of endemic African insectivore mammals | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 95 | issue = 17 | pages = 9967–9972 | date = August 1998 | pmid = 9707584 | pmc = 21445 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.95.17.9967 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 1998PNAS...95.9967S }}</ref>