Naked Mole-rat Facts
Naked Mole-rat CamOdd Looks, Odd Lives
Journey into the underground scene to learn what life is like for naked mole-rats.
By Jackson Breyer
Plunge underground in East Africa, and you’ll find yourself in the ordered world of the naked mole-rat. This small, pinkish, fleshy creature lives in highly unusual colonies. Naked mole-rats are the only mammal that is known to be “eusocial,” meaning that they live in strictly ordered societies, as ants or termites do. There are soldier and worker moles, all directed by a queen mole who gives birth to all the young. Because of this, the whole colony is actually one big family, ranging from 20 to 300 members.
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| A naked mole-rat is roughly three inches long and weighs about an ounce or two. (Jessie Cohen/NZP) |
Naked mole-rats are highly protective of their colonies, and soldier moles defend them fiercely from predators and intruders. Workers are smaller than soldiers and ensure that the tunnels are sound. They’re also responsible for finding food. Naked mole-rats love to eat tasty roots and tubers.
To find this food, naked mole-rats must dig, and digging is what they do best. In fact, 25 percent of all the muscle mass in their body is devoted to powering their jaws. By comparison, you as a human only use one percent. All their jaw-power is put to good use, too. Using their jaws, legs, and tails, naked mole-rats can dig a mile-long tunnel in less than three months!
You can explore the world of naked mole-rats in the Small Mammal House.
—Jackson Breyer was an editorial intern of Smithsonian Zoogoer.
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