The Naked Mole Rat

Dec 31, 2023 Features / Columnists, Interesting Creatures:, News, Waterfalls Magazine

Waterfalls Magazine – According to National Geographic, there are many different kinds of mole rats. However, the best known of them all is probably the naked mole rat.

Naked Mole Rat

This creature’s hairless, tubular, wrinkled body makes it appear a bit like a tiny walrus—or perhaps a bratwurst with teeth.

Naked mole rats are rodents, but they live in communities like those of many insects, National Geographic noted. Several dozen rats live together in colonies led by one dominant rat—the queen. As in some insect species, it was noted that the queen is the only naked mole rat female to breed and bear young.

Worker animals dig the burrows that the whole clan inhabits, using their prominent teeth and snouts. They also gather the roots and bulbs for the colony to eat. Other rats tend to the queen.

Researchers have found that the rodent is native to the Horn of Africa and parts of Kenya, notably in Somali regions. It is closely related to the blesmols and is the only species in the genus Heterocephalus.

Typical individual rats are 3 to 4 inches long and weigh 30 to 35 grams . Queens are larger and may weigh well over 50 grams , the largest reaching 80 grams.

They are well adapted to their underground existence. Their eyes are quite small, and their visual acuity is poor. Their legs are thin and short; however, they are highly adept at moving underground and can move backward as fast as they can move forward. Their large, protruding teeth are used to dig and their lips are sealed just behind the teeth, preventing soil from filling their mouths while digging.

Naked mole rats are primarily preyed upon by snakes—especially the Rufous beaked snake and Kenyan sand boa—as well as various raptors.