With their giant teeth and nearly-hairless hides, these little critters won't win any beauty pageants. But a rigid social structure and special adaptations for life in the dark help naked mole rats rule the roost underground.
", "is_us_only": "false", "title": "World's Weirdest: Naked Mole Rats", "url": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/mammals-animals/rodents-and-rabbits/weirdest-naked-mole-rat/", "country_code_deny_list": [], "allowUserEmbed": "True", "related": { "link": [ { "url": "http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/naked-mole-rat/", "name": "Naked Mole Rat Animal Profile" } ] }, "credit": "National Geographic", "smil": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/data/xml/weirdest-naked-mole-rat.smil", "country_code_allow_list": [], "HTML5src": "/video/player/media-mp4/weirdest-naked-mole-rat/mp4/variant-playlist.m3u8", "still": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/exposure/core_media/ngphoto/image/54616_0_616x346.jpg", "transcript": "The naked mole rat, although it's neither a mole nor a rat.
And much about their behavior is strange.
They spend their entire lives in virtually complete darkness...weaving their way through an underground network of burrows and tunnels.
Within their dark universe, they've evolved a rigid society that has more in common with ants or bees than with a typical mammalian social circle.
At the top is a long, strong queen.
She is the mother of all the other mole rats in the colony, which may total a few dozen or a few hundred.
As long as she lives, she and a few chosen boy toys are the only ones that breed.
The queen keeps the rest from mating by sheer intimidation.
Their lives are all work and no foreplay.
Some mole rats are drafted as soldiers to protect the colony from rival mole rats and predators.
A quick sniff determines insider from outsider.
Other mole rats tend to the young, clean burrows, dig tunnels and look for food.
Their giant incisors actually are outside their mouths, so the mole rats can shovel away without eating dirt.
They dig in teams.
The lead digger carves out the tunnel.
Others pass the dirt back up the tunnel and out onto the surface.
Going backwards or forwards is all the same.
Though nearly blind, special hairs on their body help guide them and tell them where they are going.
And even when travelling in the tunnels, each one's status in the hierarchy is clearly visible.
The more senior members of the colony take the high road while the juniors wriggle through underneath.
The tunnels are only a few inches wide, but a full-fledged colony can stretch for half a mile.
All this work is done to find their principal food-tubers scattered across the savannah.
One of these giant roots can feed a colony for two to three weeks.
And though they are born into a strict hierarchy, when it comes to food, everyone is equal.
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