Neurobiology of sensation and social interaction in the African naked mole rat
The naked mole-rat hails from East Africa and has adapted to life underground in a eusocial structure with one breeding queen, a handful of breeding males, and a multitude of subservient caste members. A single colony can contain a few dozen or a few hundred animals. We are investigating the neurobiology of social touch in naked mole-rats, with the goal of identifying behaviors, genes, and neural circuits from skin to brain that shape their extremely social lifestyle.
The video on the right shows a naked mole-rat taking a stroll through a tube in our interconnected tunnel system for naked mole-rat colonies here at Columbia University. If you turn the sound on this video, you can listen to some naked mole-rat vocalizations.