A hairless, pink-skinned burrowing rodent of the Horn of Africa and Kenya. It lives in colonies with a single breeding queen and is almost cold-blooded. It barely feels some kinds of pain, resists cancer, and lives longer than any other rodent.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?No, herbivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inAfrica
ColoursPink
SizeTiny
Length8–10 cm
Weight30–35 g (breeding females up to 80 g)
Legs4
Covered inSkin
Lives incolonies
Lives for30 years
In the wild
- Where it lives
- The Horn of Africa and parts of Kenya.
- What it eats
- Underground tubers; workers that find a new one call the colony to it.
Did you know
Barely ages, almost never gets cancer, and survives 18 minutes with no oxygen at all.
Naked mole-rats can live more than 37 years, and their risk of dying does not rise with age.
It can run backwards as fast as forwards through its tunnels.
Often confused with
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