A new look at the Naked Mole Rat

At first glance this small mammal is not very appealing to the human eye but they are now playing a unique and significant role in upcoming scientific studies. Their social behavior and genetics are in the spotlight for more research, due to little known about this underground creature. Most scientists have thought that this mole rat has a unique social hierarchy with inbreeding tendencies.
"Why would this rodent have evolved to socialize and mate so differently from other mammals? From a natural selection standpoint -- where advantageous traits are passed down to succeeding generations -- what is gained by limiting genetic diversity by limiting the breeding pool?"
This specific type of mammal has a hierarchy similar to bees. They live in colonies or groups and have a head female (queen). Responsibilities of workers are assigned based on the ranking of the animal. The social structure is fragile and the loss of one animal can change the duties of many. This new study has identified that these creatures are in fact not inbred. The researchers conducted a study of different mole-rat populations from Africa, and compared them to the genetics of a long-studied mole-rat population. They found that the populations of mole-rats studied for decades are "inbred" only because they originally came from a small, genetically isolated population of naked mole-rats from south of Kenya's Athi River. This is a very specific and isolated population that was studied and used to determine the whole basis of naked mole rats and their breeding processes. This brings up another issue within the scientific community...
"It also suggests, she said, that laboratory animals, isolated and repeatedly re-bred for studies, might over time represent behaviors and genetics that are different from the diverse wild populations from which they originally came."

I thought this article was interesting because it made me research more about this unique mammal and their social structure. It is now critical for scientists to keep studying this animal due to its other interesting qualities we still have no idea about like their temperature regulations, social hierarchy, and their unique evolution.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151022141702.htm 

for more information about this species and their genome:

http://www.naked-mole-rat.org/