Naked mole-rats live in extensive subterranean burrows where the length of the tunnels can exceed three kilometers (Brett, 1991b). The burrow system fulfills three important needs for naked mole-rats: predator protection, food, and thermoregulation. The communal nest, tunnels, and toilet area make up most of the burrow. Pups stay in the communal nest, where they nurse from the queen; adult naked mole-rats also sleep in the communal nest, which helps to keep the pups warm (Jarvis, 1981). The queen and breeding males spend a great deal of their time in the nest caring for the young (Lacey et al., 1991).
The tunnels provide naked mole-rats with a way of obtaining food. They dig until they find a root or tuber, at which point they bite a piece of the root or tuber off and bring it back to the communal nest. When an individual finds a tuber, he will only take a portion of it, allowing the tuber to grow back so the naked mole-rats can continue to feed on it. Naked mole-rats do most of their digging in wet periods, when the soil is soft, and when the tubers and roots will be most succulent. During these wet periods naked mole-rats store food in the communal nest for the dry season. After digging the naked mole-rats must put all the dirt they dig up somewhere, so they make molehills, which are volcano shaped mounds of dirt around holes (Brett, 1991b). Larger (non-breeding) naked mole-rats, are primarily responsible for shoving dirt out of the burrow system (Braude, 1991).
The toilet area is a branch off of the burrow system with no exit. After
urinating in the toilet area the naked mole-rat will drag its ano-genital
region along
the ground. Also following urinating or defecating the naked mole-rat will
wallow in the toilet area, which might be a way to ensure the same smell
as the rest of the colony and be able to be identified as a member of the
colony.
They also consume both their own feces and feces of others while in the
toilet area (Reeve, 1992). The tiolet area might also be involved in
the sexual repression of females in the colony. The queen's urine likely
contains pheromones that repress the sexual development of the other females,
and so by wallowing in the tiolet area the females become sexual
repressed (Faulkes et al., 1991).
This web site was completed in partial fulfillment of the requiremtns for Biology 323, Animal Behavior at Davidson College in the Spring Semester of 2003.
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