Stuff You Should Know Naked Mole Rats: A Face Only a Mother Could Love
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Oct 26, 2023 Dive into the quirky world of naked mole rats, creatures that defy typical animal appearances. Discover their impressive digging skills and the fascinating social dynamics of their underground colonies. These remarkable animals not only flaunt a unique eusocial structure but also have astonishing adaptations for survival in low-oxygen environments. Learn about their intriguing communication, the importance of their queen, and debunk some common myths. It's a humorous exploration of these extraordinary and often misunderstood creatures!
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Unique Respiration
- Naked mole rats thrive in low-oxygen environments, surviving on as little as 5% oxygen.
- They achieve this through a unique fructose-based metabolic pathway, similar to plants.
Inbreeding
- Naked mole rat colonies are highly inbred due to a single queen reproducing with a limited number of males.
- The average genetic similarity between colony members is 0.5, comparable to parent-offspring in humans.
Thermoregulation
- Naked mole rats are effectively cold-blooded mammals, lacking self-regulating body temperature.
- They regulate their temperature behaviorally by adjusting their position in the tunnel system and huddling.