Mole, или Krtek in its native language, is an adorable animated character created by Czech animator Zdenek Miler. It began with a short film which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1957 and was awarded two Golden Lions.
Since then it has become enormously Популярное in Central Europe, with an array of merchandise sporting the Krtek image, from Шоколад bars to фарфор mugs.
It is near impossible to stroll around Prague without spotting this little guy in Магазин windows, kiosks, even at the airport, which now has a giant моль mascot.
On May 16th 2011 a plush Krtek was on board the Космос shuttle endeavour, as the US astronaut Andrew Feustel's wife is of Czech ancestry.
Krtek was also the mascot for the 2015 Czech Athletics Federation Indoor Championships. This inspired me, as a Фан of toy photography, to take my own plush Krtek on my travels, photographing him along the way.
There are now plans for a US company to launch a range of Krtek merchandise, so we can expect to see plenty еще of this wonderful little character.