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Article - Naked Mole Rat Named Vertebrate of the Year

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Article - Naked Mole Rat Named Vertebrate of the Year

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Naked mole rats are small, hairless, subterranean rodents native to eastern Africa.

Credit: Brandon Vick/University of Rochester

Famed as the world's longest-living rodent, the wrinkly faced naked mole rat has won Science Magazine's Vertebrate of the Year award, confirming that the contest is based on more than just looks.

The naked mole rat, a subterranean rodent native to East Africa, can live up to 30 years, roughly nine times longer than mice of the same size. With two yellow buck teeth protruding from a pale, hairless body, the mammal may not be an eye pleaser, but it has an alluring longevity-related adaptation that has gripped researchers in recent years: It seems to be immune to cancer. [ Extreme Life on Earth: 8 Bizarre Creatures]

The academic journal Science Magazine chose the animal as its 2013 Vertebrate of the Year to celebrate two groundbreaking studies this year that have helped explain the animal's resistance to cancer.

Unraveling mole rat mysteries

The first study, published in June in the journal Nature by a team of researchers based at the University of Rochester in New York state, described a substance called hyaluronan that the rodents accumulate between their tissues in a molecularly heavier form than the hyaluronan found in humans and mice. The heavier form of the substance is, in part, thought to help make the rat's skin more elastic. This is particularly useful for animals that spend their days crawling through narrow underground tunnels. The researchers also discovered that when they removed the heavy substance from the rodents' tissues, the animals lost their resistance to tumors.

These findings suggested this particular form of hyaluronan plays an important role in cancer resistance, though its exact function in this role remains unclear.

The second study, published in October in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by some of the same members of the University of Rochester research group, showed that the mole rat is capable of building proteins - through a cellular process called protein transcription - with very few errors, compared to mice. The researchers believe that this transcription accuracy may help the animals live longer than mice and other rodents.

The team next plans to introduce the naked mole rat's protein transcription mechanism into mice to see if it helps those animals live longer and develop cancer resistance, members of the team said in a video produced last week by the University of Rochester in honor of the award announcement.

The researchers hope that these follow-up studies will eventually help identify new cancer treatments for humans.

"This will be a proof of principle that those mechanisms that we discovered in the naked mole rat can be moved to different species, and can ultimately benefit humans," study co-author Vera Gorbunova said in the video.

'Inner beauty'

Though the hairless rodents may evoke grimaces from people not accustomed to working with them every day, the researchers involved in these studies have developed a keen appreciation for what they consider to be fairly beautiful creatures.

"Some people think these animals are ugly, but once you see them actually moving, you can see that they are very cute and there is inner beauty in these animals," Gorbunova said.

Science Magazine announced several other Notable Developments awards in its Dec. 20 issue, including Invertebrate of the Year, which went to planthoppers. These insects use gears in their legs to wind up and propel themselves forward during a hop, researchers discovered.

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Naked Mole Rat Named 'Vertebrate of the Year'

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Famed as the world's longest-living rodent, the wrinkly faced naked mole rat has won Science Magazine's Vertebrate of the Year award, confirming that the contest is based on more than just looks. The naked mole rat, a subterranean rodent native to East Africa, can live up to 30 years, roughly nine times longer than mice of the same size.

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Smithsonian's National Zoo Website

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Physical Description

Naked mole-rats have wrinkly pink or grayish-pink skin, which is somewhat translucent on their undersides and light purplish-brown on their backs and tails. This countershading appears to be lost with advanced age. They have short, broad heads with powerful jaw muscles and very large incisors, which they use to dig tunnels.

Naked mole-rats are usually 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) long and weigh 1-1.5 ounces (28-42 grams). However, soldiers can weigh up to 2 ounces (57 grams), and the queen, who is the largest member of the colony, can weigh up to 2.5 ounces (71 grams).

Native Habitat

Naked mole-rats are found in eastern Africa, specifically in Ethiopia, Kenya, Dijbouti and Somalia. They live exclusively in underground burrows and tunnels in grassy, semi-arid regions.

Communication

They have no external ears and they have tiny eyes, which make them virtually blind. Their sense of smell is important, and they are also very sensitive to vibrations in the ground and the movement of air currents.

Food/Eating Habits

These burrowing rodents eat the underground parts of plants, particularly the succulent tubers formed by many of the plant species that grow in arid areas. They obtain all the water they need through their food; they do not drink.

When a group of mole-rats finds a large tuber (sometimes more than 1 foot in diameter), they generally bore through it, eating mainly the interior flesh while leaving the thin epidermis intact. This behavior may allow the plant to remain healthy for some time, indeed even to continue growing, thereby providing a long-term food resource for the colony.

Their diet is high in cellulose, which is difficult to digest. Naked mole-rats have high densities of gut fauna that aid in digestion. They also regularly practice coprophagy, the reingestion of feces, which allows them to maximize their uptake of nutrients from their food.

At the Smithsonian's National Zoo, they are fed apples, carrots, corn, green beans, kale and sweet potatoes as well as primate biscuits.

Social Structure

Naked mole-rats are eusocial, meaning they live in large colonies in which only one female breeds and the majority of workers (both males and females) spend their entire lives working for the colony. This is an unusual characteristic for mammals. Colony size averages 70 individuals, but colonies of up to 295 have been observed.

The animals in these groups are very closely related. Workers are generally raising their siblings, because a single queen may reign for many years. Dispersal is quite rare and inbreeding is common, which results in a high degree of genetic similarity among colony members. If a queen dies or is removed from a colony, a few females may fight to the death in order to become the new queen.

Naked mole-rats live in complex underground burrow systems. The tunnels are about 1.5 inches (4 centimeters) in diameter. Some tunnels run just under the surface of the ground, while others can be up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) deep. There is a great deal of branching and interconnection of tunnels, with the result that a colony's total tunnel length can total up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). Tunnels connect nest chambers, toilet areas and food sources. Burrowing is the only way these animals find food, because they do not travel above ground.

Workers dig through the hard-packed soil with their powerful, ever-growing incisors, aided by the fact that a quarter of an individual's muscle mass is involved in jaw closure. Their lips actually close behind their incisors, enabling them to dig without getting dirt in their mouths. They work assembly-line style: the front animals break through the dirt while a string of workers sweeps the soil through the tunnel system to an opening at the surface, where another worker kicks the dirt up onto the ground above its head, forming a mole hill. Mole-rats seem to do the majority of a year's digging just after the rainy season, when the normally hard ground is softened.

These eusocial rodents also cooperate to thermoregulate. Unlike most other mammals, they cannot maintain a steady body temperature. Their temperatures fluctuate with the ambient temperature, making naked mole-rats essentially cold blooded. By huddling together in large masses, they slow their rate of heat loss. They also behaviorally thermoregulate by basking as needed in their shallow surface tunnels, which are warmed by the sun.

Scientists have found that the somatosensory cortex, which is involved in the sense of touch, is unusually large. Nearly a third of it is dedicated to the animal's four, large incisors. This suggests that naked mole-rats use their teeth to sense the world around them. As they evolved unusual physical and behavioral adaptations for their underground habitat, their brain organization has evolved in parallel, resulting in an equally specialized and unusual brain adaptation.

Reproduction and Development

Only one female in a colony of naked mole-rats produces offspring; this female is called the queen. She mates with only a few of the colony's males, and these relationships can remain stable for many years. All of the other individuals in the colony aid in the queen's reproduction by caring for the pups, foraging for and providing food, and maintaining and defending the burrow system. These "workers" are physiologically capable of reproduction, but do not do so as long as they remain in the colony (which in most cases is their entire lives).

Gestation lasts about 70 days. A queen can produce a new litter every 80 days and can have up to five litters per year. Pups generally weigh less than 0.07 ounces (2 grams) at birth. The number of pups per litter is quite variable. The average is about 12 with a maximum of about 30, the largest known litter size of any mammal.

The queen nurses the pups for about a month, although they may begin eating solid food at as early as 2 weeks old. Pups also eat feces provided for them on demand by the workers. This not only provides nutrition, it also inoculates their digestive system with beneficial gut fauna.

Pups begin performing work behaviors (digging, sweeping, carrying, etc.) at 3-4 weeks old. Maturation rate is variable, but in general juveniles are physiologically capable of reproduction by age one.

Naked mole-rats may have a life span of 10-30 years. Maximum longevity in this species is as yet unknown; animals have been in human care for as long as 30 years. This life span is unprecedented among small rodents.

There are no immediate, major threats to naked mole-rats. They are often seen as pests, especially for sweet potato farmers because they can destroy much of a crop yield by eating the roots of plants. Due to habitat fragmentation, naked mole rats may face the threat of an unhealthy genetic population in the future.

Continued monitoring is necessary to better understand these unique animals. Minimal development and human interference exists in their present range, but if agriculture continues to expand they could be viewed as pests, as they will readily consume roots and tubers.

Distribution of colonies is patchy, although naked mole-rats do reside in multiple protected areas. They are also well represented in zoos, with well-established and maintained colonies. With a variety of unique characteristics, the species is significant to research on a number of different topics.

Help this Species

Share the story of this animal with others. Simply raising awareness about this species can contribute to its overall protection.

Are you a student? Did you love what you learned about this animal? Make it the topic of your next school project, or start a conservation club at your school. You'll learn even more and share the importance of saving species with classmates and teachers, too.

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Naked mole-rats are pink, nearly hairless subterranean rodents that live in burrows in eastern Africa. These surprisingly long-lived animals are one of the only true eusocial mammals; they live in large colonies in which only one female breeds and the majority of individuals spend their lives working for the colony.

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Mo Willems: The Joy of Creation | A Kennedy Center Digital Stage Original

"Everything that I do comes from a place of wanting to do something ridiculous."-Mo Willems

We Are All Connected | Kennedy Center Public Art Installation

A Large-Scale Public Art 2-Dimensional Playscape on the REACH Plaza

Okay, this is cool!

Have you checked out Mo's

2023 Text and Art © Mo Willems. ELEPHANT & PIGGIE is a trademark of The Mo Willems Studio, Inc.

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Mo Willems is an author, illustrator, animator, and playwright. He was the inaugural Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence (2019-2022), and he continues to collaborate in creating fun new stuff involving classical music, opera, comedy concerts, dance, painting and digital works with the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Ben Folds, Yo-Yo Ma, and others.

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Science Video                 Naked Mole Rat

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Science Video                 Naked Mole Rat

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Knuffle Bunny is one of the creations of Mo Willems, a best-selling author and illustrator for children, and as Rita Braver discovered, very much a man of the world:
Ah, Paris, Mecca for American writers from Henry James to Ernest Hemingway . . . to Mo Willems.

Who's Mo Willems? Well, if you know a young child, then the name and the work may be very familiar. Willems has written and illustrated a string of bestselling children's books.

But why is he in Paris?

"Writers for years and years came to France because they somehow decided it was a place to think deep thoughts," said Braver. "A children's book writer needs to think deep thoughts, too?"

"You have to think the deep thoughts because that's the philosophical age," Willems replied. "A five-year-old is asking questions: Why are people mean? What is death? Can I drive a bus? I mean, these really deep, deep thoughts."

In fact, one of Willems' most popular characters is a pigeon who wants to drive a bus. The pigeon makes the same kind of preposterous demands that children know they themselves make. ("I'll tell you what: I'll just steer ...!")

"My goal is to write 49 percent of the book, and then to let my audience create the 51 percent," Willems said. "They are my collaborators more than they are my audience."

"You've said that part of the reason that you write these books is that there's no such thing as a good childhood -- what did you mean by that?" Braver asked.

"It's a terrible time, a terrible time" Willems said. "We're born into a world where none of the furniture matches you. You walk into a room and the room is saying, 'You, you're nobody,' right?

"Let's say we're having a good time, right? Imagine if a giant hand came down, plucked you out of the room and said, 'No, now we're doing something else.' And if you complained it was your fault for getting fussy, for being angry about the hand dragging you out of the room."

As for Willems' own childhood, he grew up in New Orleans, the son of Dutch immigrants, and started cartooning at a young age:

"In second grade the class bully would not tease me or bully me if I had a gag," Willems said. "So I had a daily strip in second grade. Just come up with a little gag, and I'd show it to him. And if he laughed, then I was off the hook for the day."

After college, he tried stand-up comedy: "I did things that large groups of people thought weren't funny, by and large," he laughed. "Sketches like the guy who announces all the subway trains trying to order food (makes static-y noises), that kind of thing."

At just 24 he was asked to do one of his comedy bits as an audition to become a writer on "Sesame Street."

"I think I did one about the characters from Doublemint commercials going on a double date to meet Boutros Boutros-Ghali," he said.

He got the job, and spent nine years there, winning six Emmys, finally leaving to work on cartoon shows, like "Sheep in the Big City."

But Willems decided he was ready to move on:

"What made you say, 'Okay, I am going to write books for children?" asked Braver.

"It was a confluence of a lot of things," Willems said. "First of all, I said I want to write books for children, and it took many years for publishers to say, 'Okay.' Just saying it doesn't make it necessarily happen."

But his first published book about that pesky pigeon, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!," was a sensation, winning the prestigious Caldecott Honor in 2004 for "most distinguished American picture book for children."

Willems was still working on a cartoon show: "I told my boss, 'Hey, I won a Caldecott Honor!' He said, 'Great. Story meeting in 10 minutes.'" Willems laughed. "Unbelievably lucky enough, the next year I got a Caldecott Honor, and so I had a better sense of what it was. So I said, 'Hey, boss, I got a Caldecott Honor. I quit!'"

That second Caldecott Honor, and a third, came for his books about Knuffle Bunny ("Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale"), roughly based on his daughter Trixie's beloved toy, which once got left at the laundromat.

Willems' genius, said Nick Clark, chief curator at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass., is giving expression to inanimate objects. "Look at the ear [of Knuffle Bunny], and these little pinpoint eyes -- I mean, this is a helpless victim," he said.

The museum just hosted an exhibit of Willems' work, including drawings of Elephant and Piggie, best friends who grapple with important issues of jealousy, friendship, and how to have fun.

"He just knows how to make us laugh," said Clark.

Elephant and Piggie made their stage debut at the Kennedy Center last fall, in "Elephant & Piggie's 'We Are In a Play!'" Willems wrote the book and lyrics.

And yes, there is something of a resemblance to the author in the character of Elephant. When Willems went backstage to visit with the cast and crew, he couldn't help breaking into a little dance.

But mainly, he was thrilled by the delight of the children, who lined up for autographs after the show.

Then it was back to Paris, for long walks with his wife Cher, and hours spent sketching at a sidewalk cafe -- making pictures of real people, instead of book characters.

"Here's a guy who does not seem to be the happiest guy in the world," he said of one passer-by.

But never fear: Willems has not totally lost himself in the pleasures of Paris. He's just out with a new Pigeon book ("The Pigeon Needs a Bath"), and wherever Mo Willems goes, he plans to take the rest of us along.

"I want to continue to make my life an adventure," he said. "And I would love for people to enjoy watching the results of the adventure that I am on."
For more info:

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For kids' book author Mo Willems, childhood is an awful time

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Knuffle Bunny is one of the creations of Mo Willems, a best-selling author and illustrator for children, and as Rita Braver discovered, very much a man of the world: Ah, Paris, Mecca for American writers from Henry James to Ernest Hemingway . . .

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Guide to Creating Text Dependent Questions for Close Reading Lessons

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Guide to Creating Text Dependent Questions for Close Reading Lessons

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Lester Laminack

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Lester L. Laminack's The Ultimate Read-Aloud Resource. Please type the last word of the quotation that opens Chapter 5.