The singular beauty of the Naked Mole Rats
Happy day my friends!
When we talk about nature we immediately think of beautiful landscapes, diversity of animals, beauty, soft sounds and beautiful colors. In particular, I like to write about wildlife, flora and about the efforts of great professionals who study it and seek to improve their conditions.
In this publication we could not talk about the natural beauty that naked mole-rat possesses precisely, but of its excellent biological "qualities".
It is an underground rodent, close family of porcupines (Hystricomorpha), that with its 13 cm length (in adulthood) and its 35 grams of weight approximately, lives in the zones of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya in Africa. Its most notorious physical feature is its lack of fur, which together with its large and prominent teeth, make it a species with a strange appearance. See it yourselves!
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Rodents that live like bees
This rodent whose scientific name is Heterocephalus glaber, lives in underground tunnels that dig with their large incisors and that can measure up to 4 kilometers in length. They feed on roots and tubers so they are number one enemies of the crops.
Their colonies are numerous (between 20 and 300 inhabitants) and they are one of the few mammals Eusocials , that is to say, their social stratification is conformed by a queen who is responsible for the reproduction of the species, a small group of males that are the couples of the queen (approximately 4) and the rest of the group composed of males and females in charge of tunnels, look for food and protect the colony. A social organization that is only observed in bees, termites and ants.
Queen throughout her life
The Queen of the species is physically larger (one third more in length) than the other females, because after the first births the lower part of its spine becomes longer as a result of them. It is the only one capable of reproducing and in each litter can be born from 3 to 12 young.
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She will retain her status as queen until her death, after which a successor will emerge who will have to "fight to the death" to occupy that place in the organization, with a group of strong females who also intend to occupy it.
Why the Queen is the only fertile one?
Expert opinions affirm that the sterility of the rest of the females is due to a pheromone that the queen produces and transmits through her excretions, since in these colonies it is a common practice to excrete in a specific area of the tunnels destined for that purpose in which they also wallow to impregnate themselves with the smell.
Young for ever
This species can live up to 29 years, a rare condition in rodents so small where the average life is up to 8 years maximum. They can run very fast both forward and backward and according to studies carried out on their cell biology, their organism does not suffer the effects of aging because even at around 29 years of age their reproductive capacity remains intact.
Rochelle Buffenstein, Comparative biologist, after studying these animals for more than 30 years believes that they age very slowly.
Studies have shown that naked mole rats have very active DNA repair and high levels of chaperones, proteins that help other proteins fold correctly. “I think the animals keep their house really neat and clean, rather than accumulate damage” that causes the physical deterioration associated with age, Buffenstein says.
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Evolutively adapted
The naked mole-rats develops its life in underground tunnels in areas of Africa where high temperatures exist and the acid due to the concentration of carbon dioxide is also present. In the studies carried out on these animals it has been found that they have resistance to burns and show little sensitivity to pain. The possible cause of this behavior is explained by the scientists who developed a study called "Hypofunctional TrkA Accounts for the Absence of Pain Sensitization in the African Naked Mole-Rat" where they state:
In summary, we provide evidence that evolution has selected for a single-molecule change in the naked mole-rat NGF receptor TrkA that is sufficient to abolish heat hyperalgesia in this species. Mutations in the trkA gene are highly detrimental in humans, but here we show that evolution has selected for sequence change(s) in the naked mole-rat gene that are not only functionally powerful but also compatible with species survival and continued fitness.
CC BY-SA 2.0
So far we have made a brief review of the physical and biological characteristics that have made science interested in this animal of strange appearance, but still missing more ...
Immune to cancer
The naked mole-rat does not suffer cancer, neither spontaneous nor induced in the laboratory.
The scientist Andrei Seluanov of the University of Rochester explains that this is due to a viscous substance called Hyaluronic acid responsible for blocking the development of tumors in the small rodent.
"It is a chain with carbon and hydrogen atoms that produces most of the body's cells and that helps, among other things, to control the growth of organs to their proper size. Unlike the hyaluronic acid produced by mice and humans, the ratopin variant is a much larger and longer chain. The large size of this molecule is essential to confer protection against cancer"
The elastic appearance of the skin of these animals, which facilitates the movement through the narrow tunnels, is also attributed to this viscous substance. In the experiments carried out in the laboratory it was demonstrated that by eliminating the hyaluronic acid in the animals, the cells divide uncontrollably generating the appearance of tumors.
As an additional information that until now I did not know, I tell you that hyaluronic acid is also known for its use through injections in aesthetic treatments to correct wrinkles in humans. ¡Excellent news!.
And finally, I could not finish this publication without mentioning the ability of these rodents to live without oxygen for 18 minutes.
How did the scientists determine that they could stop breathing for 18 minutes?
To reach this conclusion, scientists placed these fascinating creatures in an environment with only 5 percent oxygen (for humans less than 10% oxygen is deadly), and observed that the reduction of oxygen barely affected them. Then they performed another test in which the rodents were subjected to a situation with total lack of oxygen and observed that the small animals immediately fell asleep entering a kind of coma and stayed that way for 18 minutes managing to survive. Once the test was over and after the oxygen supply again, they were normal and without any consequences due to lack of oxygen.
After these tests some animals were slaughtered and studied internally:
After sacrificing the animals, the team studied their hearts and brains, discovering that the study subjects had released large amounts of fructose in their blood streams, and that the sugar reached the brain through tiny "fructose pumps", where it was metabolized .
Then they concluded that these animals change metabolism in the absence of oxygen and pass from one metabolic system based on glucose to another based on fructose. So far scientists are unaware of where fructose comes from in these animals, whether it is generated by lack of oxygen or is released from some part of the animal's body.
As you can see, the naked mole-rat is a good example of the "inner beauty" that can exist within living beings, because despite its rare aspect is a fascinating creature that can provide answers to the search for solutions to certain human diseases .
With this short video I say goodbye until a next publication. Thank you for accompanying me with your reading and I hope you enjoy it:
Son horribles, le tengo pavor a las ratas. Saludos amiga.
si amiga @maeugenia su aspecto es bastante desagradable y para nosotras cualquier roedor es feo e intimidante a pesar de su pequeño tamaño jajaja. Aun así, es un pequeño animal muy fascinante para la ciencia, la cual le ha dedicado años de estudios encontrando importantes hallazgos.
Muchas gracias por leerlo y apoyarlo. En verdad lo aprecio mucho.
Feliz día amiga
Excelente trabajo amiga @ufv. Simplente, la naturaleza es maravillosa. Disfruté leer tu artículo. Gracias por compartirlo. Saludos.
Gracias amigo @tsoldovieri por tu tiempo, me siento complacida que lo hayas disfrutado. La naturaleza tiene muchos encantos. Saludos.