Naked mole-rats live in subterranean burrows in arid regions of Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia (Brett, 1991b). They live in large colony, averaging between 70 and 80 individuals; with one breeding female and one to three breeding males (Brett, 1991a). Many colony members help the breeding individuals with parental care (Jarvis, 1981). Naked mole-rats have complex social interactions as a result of living in such close proximity to their fellow colony members. Since they rarely leave their borough naked mole-rats have become highly inbred, which has caused them to exhibit altruistic behaviors as a result of kin selection.
Photo by Jim Schulz courtesy of Brookfield Zoo/Chicago Zoological Society copyright 2003.
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.
If you find this site interesting I highly recommend reading The Biology of the Naked Mole-Rat (Ed. by Sherman, P. W., Jarvis, J. U. M. and Alexander, R. D.). Princeton: Princeton University Press.1991. which I found to be incredibly informative and insightful.