Naked Mole Rat Speech

Naked mole rats.
Weird but amazing.. ’Naked Mole Rat’.

Good day friends.
Today I ll be writing on a very interesting animal..Naked Mole Rat..

A weird looking but amazing creature whose lack of regard for existing natural laws has made it highly distinguishing. Even went as far as defying the gompertz law..

A member of the Order-Rodentia, family-Heterocephalidae, Genus-Heterocephalus, H.glaber specie, this hairless rodent ( thus its name) is also known as sand puppy or desert mole rat.

There are other types of mole rats like the blind mole rats, African mole rats, Nigerian Mole rats, Indian mole rats, short tail mole rats, but we shall stick with the naked mole rat for the purpose of this post.

They all however, good burrowing skills

Common name: Naked mole rat.

DESCRIPTION:
This eusocial mammal( highest social classification has some unusual set of physical traits that ensure its survival in harsh conditions.

Physically, the naked mole rat measures about 8-10cm long and weighs about 30-35 gms. They have small eyes and poor vision, thin and short legs that re specialized for rapid movements within their burrow. They actually can move backward as fast as they can move forward.

Their large protruding teeth serves as a tool for their digging. The lips are sealed behind the the teeth to prevent sand filling of their mouths while digging..

The naked mole rat are hairless, tubular, with a wrinkled body with pinkish or yellowish skin lacking an insulating area t making it look like a tiny walrus.

The Queens are larger and weighs over 80 grams.

WHERE CAN THEY BE FOUND?
Can be found in Central Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, much of northern and eastern Kenya as far as the border of tsavo west national park and voi town.

They live in the arid areas of these countries characterized by low rainfall and high temperature living in hard consolidated lateritic loams although they can also live in pure sand gypsum

Another characteristic of the naked mole rat. It lacks “substance P” on it’s skin which is a key neurotransmitter sending pain signal to the central nervous system.

This has been proposed to be an adaptation to animal living in an environment with low oxygen tension and high concentration of carbon dioxide.

This kind of condition produces so much acid in the mammalian tissue which will elicit intense amount of pain if a neurotransmitter was in place.

Further more, the lack of “substance P” has also been related to a lack of histamine induced itching/scratching behavior of rodents.

Female mate choice.
An interesting fact about the naked mole rat. The reproductively active female have got some “ spec”. They tend to always want the unfamiliar males for mating. Whereas the reproductively active female do not really select their man. Anything could serve well for them.

This is an adaptation by the female rat to prevent inbreeding. Inbreeding is prevented because it may lead to the expression of deleterious alleles.

Diet.
The naked mole rat generally feed on tubers which they find underground during burrowing