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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.
- How often do naked mole rats reproduce?
- How long do naked mole rats live in the wild?
- How is the naked mole rat immortal?
- What did the naked mole rat evolve from?
- How many naked mole rats are in a colony?
- How many mole rats live in a typical colony?
- Can mole rats help extend life?
- How long can a naked mole rat survive without oxygen?
- Do naked mole rats have good memory?
- Are naked mole rats blind?
- What can naked mole rats chew through?
- Can naked mole rats chew through concrete?
- What's so special about naked mole rats?
- How can naked mole rats go 18 minutes without breathing?
- How do naked mole rats get oxygen?
- How long can moles hold their breath?
How often do naked mole rats reproduce?
In the wild, naked mole-rats usually breed once a year, if the litter survives. In captivity, they breed all year long and can produce a litter every 80 days. The young are born blind and weigh about 2 grams (0.07 oz).
How long do naked mole rats live in the wild?
With their large buck teeth and wrinkled, hairless bodies, naked mole rats won't be winning any awards for cutest rodent. But their long life span—they can live up to 30 years, the longest of any rodent—and remarkable resistance to age-related diseases, offer scientists key clues to the mysteries of aging and cancer.
How is the naked mole rat immortal?
Naked mole rats aren't immortal, of course; they do eventually die. The pattern by which they die, though doesn't seem to be related to how many years they have under their belts. ... "The chance of a mole rat dying at one year of age or dying at 25 years of age is the same," Buffenstein told Live Science.
What did the naked mole rat evolve from?
Photo by Nikolai Barbel, CC BY-SA 3.0. For a while the general assumption seemed to be that the eusociality of the Naked mole-rat had evolved from the also eusocial but less 'extreme' biology of the Cryptomys and Fukomys common mole-rats… or, at least, evolved from common-mole-rat-like mole-rats.
How many naked mole rats are in a colony?
A naked mole-rat colony may have from 20 to 300 individuals living in an underground area that can be as large as 6 football fields!
How many mole rats live in a typical colony?
Naked mole rat colonies usually average around 70 members, but colonies as large as 295 have been observed. This is one of only two known eusocial mammal species. In this system, there is a single queen supported by a caste of workers and breeders, just like bees, wasps, termites and ants.
Can mole rats help extend life?
Living Like a Naked Mole-rat May Extend Longevity, Scientists Demonstrate. ... Because, they postulate, the lower body temperature and slower metabolism could significantly extend mouse longevity, based on the observation that metabolically slow naked mole-rats live eight times longer than similar rodents.
How long can a naked mole rat survive without oxygen?
Naked mole rats can survive for 18 minutes without oxygen.
Do naked mole rats have good memory?
The mole-rats learned significantly faster than the rats and voles. Furthermore, their ability to remember the maze was significantly better than that of the rats after 2, 7, 30 and 60 days from the end of the learning experiment and significantly better than the voles after 120 days.
Are naked mole rats blind?
Because mole-rats are virtually blind, their sense of smell is also very important.
What can naked mole rats chew through?
Those teeth are so remarkable that they can not only chew through the tough underground roots that provide nutrition, but they can even chew through concrete when the occasion calls for it. Unlike most other mammals, naked mole-rats are eusocial, meaning that, like bees and ants, they live in a colony with a queen.
Can naked mole rats chew through concrete?
Naked mole rats can chew through concrete and bite through a human hand. They spend their lives burrowing beneath the East African dirt in search of giant tubers and roots. They are fleshy and pinkish gray. They look and feel like the back of your elbow.
What's so special about naked mole rats?
Naked mole rats are cold-blooded, which saves them the trouble (and energy) of thermoregulating. They chew like a beaver. A quarter of their muscle mass resides in their jaws, and their lips close behind their teeth, so they don't get mouthfuls of soil while digging.
How can naked mole rats go 18 minutes without breathing?
As James Gorman reports for The New York Times, researchers found that naked mole-rats can survive for up to 18 minutes in an environment devoid of oxygen by using a metabolic process normally associated with plants.
How do naked mole rats get oxygen?
They go into a state of suspended animation, reducing their movement and dramatically slowing their pulse and breathing rate to conserve energy. And they begin using fructose until oxygen is available again. The naked mole-rat is the only known mammal to use suspended animation to survive oxygen deprivation.
How long can moles hold their breath?
They use their powerful arms to swim through the water, much like the way they move through the dirt. Some moles even swim underwater and can hold their breath for up to 10 seconds at a time.
