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Naked Mole Rat, or Naked Sand Rat - HETEROCEPHALUS GLABER
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Rat": "Rat" comes from the Old English word
"raet," for the animal. Not a true rat, this animal just looks like a rat.
Location: Mid-eastern Africa.
Habitat: Fossorial. Sandy arid regions.
Description: This is the only hairless rat (except for a few scattered tactile hairs near its mouth). The skin is reddish, or cream. The head is thickset, the eyes very small, and there are no external ears. The feet are wide with five toed claws with stiff hairs for better digging. It grows to about three and a half inches long, another one and a half inches for the tail, and it weighs up to three ounces.
Behavior: Mole rats live in large colonies of up to 100 animals, and spend their entire lives underground. Their diet consists of roots, tubers and bulbs. They are most active in the morning and afternoon. They dig intricate tunnel systems at a depth up to forty inches.
Reproduction: It has been reported that most or all reproduction in a colony is by one female only. She will produce a number of large litters in the course of a year.
Go to the Rodents Page to learn more about all the gnawing animals.
Or go to the Rat Index to study other
rats.
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