Naked mole rat

Distribution

Habitats

The following habitats are found across the Naked mole rat distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.

Behaviours

Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.

• Paternal care
• Helpless young
• Colonial
• Co-operative breeding
• Hierarchical
• Eusocial
• Burrower
• Tactile sense
• Acoustic communication
• Herbivorous
• Maternal care
• Social
• Chemical communication
• Viviparous

The naked mole rat up close

Though many people find naked mole rats unattractive, a close look under the pink, saggy sking reveals a fascinating animal with complex social behaviour.

Diet

If you see a plant suddenly disappearing in an African desert, it's probably the work of a mole rat! The animals dig tunnels over a kilometre long in search of plants, and then tug them underground by their roots without risking exposure in the open. They make the most of the food available by 'farming' plants: when they come across a large tuber, they eat only a bit at a time, allowing the plant to survive and provide them with fresh food for many years.

Habitat

Naked mole rats live in underground burrows in very dry areas of East Africa. Their burrows remain at an almost constant temperature, while that of the desert above changes from scorching during the daytime, to very cold at night. The animals never need to drink, because they get all the fluid they need from water-rich food and the moist burrow air.

Social behaviour

The most remarkable thing about all mole rats, but especially Damaraland and naked mole-rats, is their social behaviour. Naked mole rat colonies are usually about 80 strong (although they can be as large as 300), but only a few males and one female actually breed. The rest behave in a similar way to workers and soldiers in an ants' nest, purely serving the colony.

This structure has developed because of the need for intense group activity when finding food. For many months the soil is too hard to tunnel, so when it does rain the colony needs to dig rapidly to find enough food to see them through the next dry season. To ensure the survival of the colony, the litters stay with their mother and help raise their brothers and sisters. If all the litters dispersed, the colony would be too small to survive and the youngsters would have little chance of finding a mate and a suitable place to live.

Interesting feature

Naked mole rat colonies are dominated by a single, large female. Research is still being carried out to discover how the dominant female stops others in the colony from breeding, but however it's done, the effect is only temporary.

When the breeding female dies, other females in the colony begin to develop eggs within 7-10 days of her death. The older females are the first to develop eggs and often fight to the death for the right to become the breeding female. The winner grows in size, mates with the breeding males and becomes the new queen of the colony.