Naked Mole Rats

Naked mole-rats are marvelous and bizarre rodents, arguably the weirdest mammals God made. These East African critters do not get tumors. They are immune to certain types of chronic pain and even the irritant found in chili peppers. These odd little subterraneans live their lives like social insects in 300-strong colonies. In the tunnel recesses, a mole-rat queen gives birth to worker children. However, these offspring themselves will never bear young. Though the mole-rats are mammals, they behave like cold-blooded animals that do not internally regulate their body temperature. Normal mice live about three years, but the oldest known mole-rat lived to age 32. Recently scientists discovered that naked mole-rats can also survive in oxygen-poor air, an environment that would be lethal to mice or humans. When oxygen is scarce, the mole-rats switch their energy source from glucose (commonly used in mammals) to fructose (a sugar that plants produce). Think how many more amazing things we still have to discover in God’s wonderful creation!

Posted on June 1, 2018 by dwoetzel.