Naked mole rat

Scientific name: Heterocephalus glaber

Country: Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia

Continent: Africa

Diet: Tubers & roots - radicivore

Food & feeding: Herbivore

Habitats: Tropical grassland

Conservation status: Not Threatened

Relatives: Damaraland mole rat, Cape mole rat

Description: A truly bizarre little mammal. Ten centimetres long with a 4 cm tail. Almost hairless, except for whiskers, so appearing yellowish or pinkish in colour, depending on how hot or cold the mole rat is. The skin is wrinkly, the eyes are so small as to be almost useless and the front incisor teeth are enormous and stick out of the front of the mouth.

Lifestyle: They spend all of their time burrowing with nest-mates beneath the surface of hard-packed soil in dry areas. Tunnels are dug just beneath the surface using those giant incisor teeth like drills, as the animals search for roots and tubers which they either eat, or take back to the main nest tunnels where the tubers may be stored to be eaten at a later stage.

Family & friends: Many mammals live in extended groups of family and friends but mole rats are unique in that they live in a huge group of around 75 animals (up to 250) of which only one female will produce babies. All the other mole rats behave as helpers, devoting their lives to digging and collecting food that is brought back to the central nest through the tunnel system, to feed the others and the babies. This team of workers, with a single queen is rather like the queen and worker bees in a hive. The extreme hardness of the soil through which they tunnel means that a single mole rat could never survive on its own, but together they cooperate and triumph.

Keeping in touch: The queen's urine contain chemicals called pheromones which prevent other females in the nest from having babies of their own. She is also very dominant and the stress from her bullying also keeps the others from breeding. Other species of mole rat that live more solitary lives communicate with neighbours by banging their heads on the roof of their tunnels.

Growing up: The queen can produce up to four litters a year, each with around 12 or up to 27 pups in a litter. The pups will grow up to become workers in the nest, helping their mother to raise their brothers and sisters. For such a tiny animal, they can live for a long time, at least 20 years in captivity.

Worker mole rats eat their own droppings. This gives them a second chance to digest the fibrous roots that they feed on. They also allow other mole rats in the colony to eat their droppings, another way in which they help each other out (although we might not agree that this is such a privilege!)

Conservation news: Despite living in such tough conditions, molerats are very widespread and numerous in the drier areas of East Africa