![]() ![]() Workers dig through hard-packed soil with their powerful incisors. To gain heat, they huddle and sleep together in groups. Naked mole rats lack sweat glands their low metabolism helps prevent overheating. Their skin is pink and somewhat translucent on the underside and light purplish-brown on the backs and tails. They have sensory whiskers on their faces and tails, as well as hair between their toes which allows their feet to function as brooms when sweeping away soil. Naked mole rats are more closely related to porcupines, chinchillas and guinea pigs than they are to rats, and they are not related to moles at all. Few predators can reach naked mole rats in their underground burrows, but snakes are a constant threat with their ability to slide into the tunnel systems. Workers work assembly-line style, with the front animals breaking through the dirt while a string of workers behind them sweep the soil through the tunnel system to the surface, where another worker kicks the dirt up onto the ground above its head. Each chamber acts as a specific “room” with a specific purpose. Tunnels connect nest chambers, toilet areas and food sources. Naked mole rats are fossorial, living only underground, and use complex burrow systems. In this system, there is a single queen supported by a caste of workers and breeders, just like bees, wasps, termites and ants. This is one of only two known eusocial mammal species. Naked mole rat colonies usually average around 70 members, but colonies as large as 295 have been observed. ![]()
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