SUPER SURPRISE # 7

SUPER SURPRISE THURSDAY #7

We didn’t have a Super Surprise animal last week because it was World Rhino Day! We hope you enjoyed learning all about rhinos on our Facebook page and our Twitter account!* Today’s animal is very special as it is naked mammal! Naked you say? Yep, it’s a naked animal. Let’s see who it is!

MEET THE NAKED MOLE RAT

Range/Habitat: East Africa/tropical grassland-deserts

Diet: Herbivores: roots-tubers

Length/Weight: 3-3 ½”/1- 2 oz (about as much as 4 to 5 quarters)

Conservation Status: Common

Fun Facts:

• Naked Mole Rats are a very funny looking mammal. They are almost hairless, except for a few pale hairs and whiskers.
• They are very social and live in colonies of up to 70-100 individuals.
• Naked mole rats have a very unusual social structure. There is a queen naked mole rat and workers.
• The queen is the dominant female and is the only naked mole rat to bread (have babies) in the colony.
• Worker naked mole rats dig the elaborate tunnel systems that they live in. They also gather food.
• Naked mole rats rarely surface from their underground tunnels.
• They have tiny ears and eyes. They can’t hear or see well.
• Naked mole rats have large teeth that they use for digging and eating.

We know naked mole rats aren’t the cutest animal on the planet; in fact they’re pretty bizarre looking! But even the bizarre animals are cool! Sometimes even more cool that the cute ones!