Naked Mole Rat by Paul Shinn.
Every now and again something quite random catches my eye… and so it was a few months ago when I came across a news story about the *sabre-toothed sausage* – otherwise known as the naked mole rat. And why, you may ask, did this curious creature engage me so? Aside from the opportunity to showcase some fab illustrations of course.
Illustration by Abigail Daker.
Scientist Dr Chris Faulkes at the University of London has been studying these bizarre animals for twenty years, and what grabbed me about the story on the BBC News website was the unusual social structure of mole rats, who live in groups of up to 300 individuals.
Illustration by Nick Hilditch.
I’ll put aside for the moment the fact that “queen” mole rats get all the action – forming long term bonds with her lucky selected suitors (note the plural use of the word here) and ensuring that for most mole rats sex is something they will never experience – and instead focus on the interesting ways in which mole rats care for their entire community.
Naked Mole Rat by Reena Makwana.
For rather like bees, ants or termites, the mole rats care for their colonies as a whole, with the smaller mole rats taking on the roles of workers, and the larger ones fighting off any pesky intruders, eg snakes. They live for an exceptionally long time for such little beasties (up to 30 years) and appear to be immune to cancer… hence the intense interest from the scientific community.
Heirarchy Of Sausages by Gareth A Hopkins.
They may look bloody funny, but I think that we would do well to learn from creatures such as the Sabre-Toothed Sausage. After all, living in such close knit communities clearly works wonders for them… and they dig with their teeth – how cool is that?
Stacie Swift’s Naked Mole Rat.
Naked Mole Rat by Laura Nuttall.
Alison Warner’s mole rat.
Tags:
Alison Warner, BBC News, Cancer, community, Dr Chris Faulkes, Gareth A Hopkins, Laura Nuttall, Lemonaday, Naked Mole Rat, Nick Hilditch, Paul Shinn, Reena Makwana, Sabre-Toothed Sausage, Stacie Swift, University of London
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I’ve just seen this, what great illustrations! And such an interesting creature to pick up on Amelia! Fx
Excellent late entry from Alison Warner! So bizarre