Re: pinhole Naked Mole Rats: the Movie!

Date view Thread view Subject view Author view Attachment view

From: karenk@exploratorium.edu
Date: Tue Jun 10 2003 - 10:56:58 PDT 

Message-Id: <200306101756.h5AHumk19612@isaac.exploratorium.edu>
From: karenk@exploratorium.edu
Subject: Re: pinhole Naked Mole Rats: the Movie!
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 10:56:48 US/Pacific

Hi gang!

Ah, the much maligned naked mole rat! Virtually hairless with loose, nearly transparent
pinkish skin, eyes that barely register light, and, incisor teeth located on the outside
of
their lips (all the better to keep out dirt as they dig tunnels). But what a fabulous
example
of "form and function" - the skin and hairlessness help with thermoregulation in the
desert environment; why have highly functional eyes when you live in the dark; and the
already mentioned teeth. They do have "vibrissae" or stiff bristles around their faces
and
feet to help them gather information about their environment. And, to top it off, the
"queen" mole rat secretes a pheromone into her urine that prevents other females from
developing reproductive capacity (the mole rats roll around in each others' excrement to
facilitate colony identification and recognition).

Ya' gotta love 'em! Who else thinks the Explo should have a colony on exhibit? I sure
do!

Thanks, Jo, for letting us know "Fast Cheap and Out of Control" is in the Learning Studio.
 
Way cool!

---Karen
Kalumuck

--------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using Exploratorium web mail
           http://www.exploratorium.edu/

Date view Thread view Subject view Author view Attachment view

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Mon Aug 04 2003 - 16:18:14 PDT