Naked mole rats might actually be the best, most perfect mammal to ever grace the animal kingdom with their presence. This is not hyperbole, but one of many takeaways from a wild new story about naked mole rats published by Wired. In it, we meet the world’s oldest naked mole rat: Joe. He’s 39 years young, looks like baby-old man Ben Button, and has literally never aged a day, not once in his damn life. According to various experts interviewed for the feature, the naked mole rat’s biology may very well hold the key to slowing down the aging process in humans and protecting us against cancers and other damaging diseases. The naked mole rat, of all things! HUH!
Turns out Joe and his friends have become quite popular in the biological research community thanks to an age-defying mechanism we don’t yet fully understand—because these wrinkly little guys don’t age the same way most mammals do and they rarely die from biological disease or disorders. After performing necropsies on 3,000 naked mole rats, biologist Rochelle Buffenstein only found five instances of cancer. Research has shown that the cells of naked mole rats possess large amounts of a protein called p53, which suppresses tumors. Humans and mice also have this protein, but naked mole rats produce 10 times the amount.
As animals get older, the risk of death increases exponentially. Per Wired, “A lab mouse’s risk of dying doubles every three months or so. For a dog it’s about every three years. Once a human turns 25, their risk of dying doubles every eight years. Naked mole rats don’t play by these rules.” The bad boys of the rodent world are apparently the pasty indoor kids who never go out in the sunlight.
In addition to these potentially life-changing genetic findings, here are some other key takeaways about the naked mole rat, the unexpected icon of the animal kingdom:
- Mole rats are unfortunately very xenophobic and aggressively attack/kill outsider mole rats. Problematic faves, for sure.
- They are eusocial, which means one queen rules over a whole colony: “She mates with up to three males and remains fertile even 30 years after puberty. (For a human that would equate to having babies at 300 years old.)”
- Female mole rats are “reproductively repressed” by the queen with “pushing and shoving that may sometimes look aggressive, depending on the despot.”
- “Joe has seen dynasties rise and fall”—this is just truly an incredible sentence about a naked mole rat.
- Naked mole rats have few natural predators because they rarely go above ground.
- The Secret Of NIMH was a goddamn lie and should’ve been about mole rats entirely.
- We must do everything in our power to keep Gwyneth Paltrow away from the naked mole rats.
12 Comments
30 years after puberty. (For a human that would equate to having babies at 300 years old
If they don’t age, does it really make sense to multiply by 10? You multiply a dog’s age by 7 because they have shorter lifespan.
They don’t show many SIGNS of aging but their lifespan is about 32 years (says Wikipedia). So… it’s like a human having babies at 100, not 300.Still impressive.
Some of us have always known naked mole rats were awesome.
When I see stuff like this, I immediately think of some doofus politician decrying “waste” in research grants because the title of the study sounds funny.
Every few months I read about how some animal will unlock the secrets of anti-aging and eternal youth. I guess it’s naked mole rats’ turn. Congratulations.
Mole rats are unfortunately very xenophobic and aggressively attack/kill outsider mole rats. Problematic faves, for sure.Comes with being eusocial. Like bees and ants, a colony of mole rats are all full or half siblings. It’s just weird because we don’t see that (other than mole rats) in mammals. Well, there was that creepy family in the 4th season X-Files episode Home, I suppose.
Literally no reason to bring that episode up. None. It would have cost you nothing not to and we all could have gone about our lives.
Second time in a week I’ve been reminded of that episode. Crazy times we live in.
Save your references for a pop culture website, okay?
Diseases and preventative measures is one thing. However, is aging something that should be feared and worked to prolong after some much done for it anyway? If evolution is any indicator, the human body’s life sustaining organs have yet to ‘catch up’ with our increased life expectancy. And as a trope reminder, immortality sucks – unless your brain development is at the speed of molasses.
No mention of their sexual preferences and customs?