Rat-Systems

Naked mole-rats are unique among mammals, with unusual features that result from extreme adaptations to living underground. They have become an important model system for healthy aging, they resist cancer, they are studied to help us understand how complex societies evolve and are maintained, and even for how social environment can affect fertility. Studying an animal with what is at first glance a bizarre lifestyle, can inform us about more general biological principles of wide importance to us and other species.