3 ms·

Naked mole-rats: A case study in biological weirdness

23 points by apsec112 7y ago

dmlorenzetti 7y ago
The Errol Morris documentary "Fast, Cheap & Out of Control" has a segment on mole rats [0]. I think that movie would appeal to a lot of HN members -- it's broadly about people who obsessively pursue some interesting corner of skill or knowledge, and how that makes the world a richer place. Kind of like the "Fred Dibnah, Stepplejack" series that I learned about on HN ([1], and I know it made HN about 7 years ago as well). [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119107/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119107/ [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9796254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9796254
hellllllllooo 7y ago
"They don't age" but what causes then to only live only until "30+ years old" in a zoo?
- Rooster61 7y ago
  The same things that make a human with a ~73 year life expectancy die at 30. Disease, trauma, unnatural death, etc...
oicu812 7y ago
Unfortunately the article didn't mention their unique gut microbiota. [0] "The naked mole-rat possesses a unique gut microbiome composition..." and "This might suggest a possible role of the gut microbiota as a universal contributor to mammalian health, which goes beyond the host phylogeny and ecology constrains, supporting health and longevity of the mammalian host." [0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10287-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10287-0
needlesurgeon 7y ago
Of all of the points listed, their eusocial nature is (to me) the weirdest. A quick Google search [0] shows that eusocial organization actually manifests not only with behavior, but with changes in physical characteristics. The 'queen' is bigger (presumably to facilitate having babies) and the guards develop longer teeth. Presumably, they're still diploid. So, to anyone who speaks evolutionary genetics: what gives? My understanding was that it's evolutionarily advantageous for eusocial insects to cooperate at least in part because they're haploid. [0] https://www.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/web_2006/Mole_Rat_cd_dtb/sstructure.html https://www.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching...

23 points by apsec112 7y ago

The Errol Morris documentary "Fast, Cheap & Out of Control" has a segment on mole rats [0]. I think that movie would appeal to a lot of HN members -- it's broadly about people who obsessively pursue some interesting corner of skill or knowledge, and how that makes the world a richer place. Kind of like the "Fred Dibnah, Stepplejack" series that I learned about on HN ([1], and I know it made HN about 7 years ago as well). [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119107/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119107/ [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9796254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9796254

hellllllllooo 7y ago

"They don't age" but what causes then to only live only until "30+ years old" in a zoo?

Rooster61 7y ago
The same things that make a human with a ~73 year life expectancy die at 30. Disease, trauma, unnatural death, etc...

oicu812 7y ago

Unfortunately the article didn't mention their unique gut microbiota. [0] "The naked mole-rat possesses a unique gut microbiome composition..." and "This might suggest a possible role of the gut microbiota as a universal contributor to mammalian health, which goes beyond the host phylogeny and ecology constrains, supporting health and longevity of the mammalian host." [0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10287-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10287-0

needlesurgeon 7y ago

Of all of the points listed, their eusocial nature is (to me) the weirdest. A quick Google search [0] shows that eusocial organization actually manifests not only with behavior, but with changes in physical characteristics. The 'queen' is bigger (presumably to facilitate having babies) and the guards develop longer teeth. Presumably, they're still diploid. So, to anyone who speaks evolutionary genetics: what gives? My understanding was that it's evolutionarily advantageous for eusocial insects to cooperate at least in part because they're haploid. [0] https://www.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/web_2006/Mole_Rat_cd_dtb/sstructure.html https://www.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching...