I thought I would mention these things because they fascinate me. They are hairless rats that live in South Africa in underground colonies, which sounds normal enough, but consider the following:
--They are cold-blooded mammals
--They are Eusocial (there is a queen, workers, & soldiers--they live just like bees)
--The queen is larger than the rest and maintains order by shoving her subordinates
--when a naked mole rat from a different colony comes into the nest, it is attacked and killed.
--only the queen has young
--when the queen dies, all the remaining females in the colony duke it out for the position
Now tell me that's not fascinating.
--They are cold-blooded mammals
--They are Eusocial (there is a queen, workers, & soldiers--they live just like bees)
--The queen is larger than the rest and maintains order by shoving her subordinates
--when a naked mole rat from a different colony comes into the nest, it is attacked and killed.
--only the queen has young
--when the queen dies, all the remaining females in the colony duke it out for the position
Now tell me that's not fascinating.
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Re: Naked Mole Rats
Sun, April 18, 2004 - 10:23 PMThere is a huge naked mole rat enclosure in the Portland zoo.
Sort of like a giant ant farm where you can see into their tunnels and lairs.
Question though, when the winner of the new queenship is decided, does she then grow to the larger size that the queen is supposed to be? -
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Re: Naked Mole Rats
Mon, April 19, 2004 - 7:37 AMI guess that's how it works. It is said that the queen is the only class in the colony that is dimorphic enough to be recognizable. If that is the case, then it stands to reason that the female that takes her place would not have attained her queenlike stature prior to becoming the queen.
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