Queen Mole Rat has automatic babysitters

/in /by

The naked mole-rat or sand puppies, are the only known “eusocial” mammals, the highest classification of sociality. Its physical characters allow it to prosper in severe underground environments and are almost entirely cold-blooded. A colony consists of the queen (the only breeding female), breeding males, and many female workers that do not reproduce. The colony’s queen turns female minions into babysitters by having them eat her feces that contain estrogen, the female sex hormones created by reproductive organs. The non-breeding female workers don’t produce estrogen hormone and once the queen becomes pregnant she starts producing excessive estrogen-rich feces that some female workers eat, activating maternal instincts. After the queen gives birth, those female worker rodents stop digging tunnels and collecting food and then begin to warm and clean the newly born pups.

gogreenpestcontrol.ca & Exterminators Delta Ladner Tsawwassen B.C. Randy L. Bilesky BsF CPA

https://gogreenpestcontrol.ca/queen-mole-rat-h…atic-babysitters/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/queen-mole-rat-has-automatic-babysitters-randy-bilesky/?published=t