(warning before you click: the naked mole rat looks exactly as it sounds, its a hairless rat, if you dislike rodents then youll hate the photo you see straight away) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole_rat One of the most unusual mammals - its one of only 2 eusocial mammals, similar to ants or bees, where only a single female and a couple of males reproduce, the rest of the animals all being labourers. They live underground in massive tunnel systems in the desert. They feed on giant tubers which they find underground - a single one will last them ages because they eat only the inside, which allows the tuber to regenerate over time. They hold the record for longest lived rodents, up to 31 years, probably partially down to their very low metabolic rates. Theyre unusually resistant to cancer such that theyve never been observed to develop tumours, which has led to them being used in cancer research. Theyre also the only mammal which thermoconforms instead of thermoregulating, meaning they just adopt the surrounding temperature as their body temperature and are able to deal with it fine just very interesting and cool animals
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 19:03:04 +0000
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