Naked And Unafraid: 6 Wild Facts About Naked Mole Rats
Picture a hairless, wrinkly rodent about the size of a small sweet potato — kinda cool, kinda weird. They also are extraordinarily long-lived. Researchers are lining up to study their secrets.
Naked mole rats don't look like they'd be one of nature's superstars. They're about the size and shape of small sweet potatoes. These rodents are native to the grasslands of East Africa, and are mostly hairless, wrinkled, and blind. And yet, they've evolved some special behaviors and features that help them thrive in harsh environments in which other mammals (humans included) would wither.
, assistant curator of small mammals at The Smithsonian's National Zoo
