-
Article
Open AccessNaked mole-rats have distinctive cardiometabolic and genetic adaptations to their underground low-oxygen lifestyles
The naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber is a eusocial mammal exhibiting extreme longevity (37-year lifespan), extraordinary resistance to hypoxia and absence of cardiovascular disease. To identify the mechanisms...
-
Article
Open AccessLovers, not fighters: docility influences reproductive fitness, but not survival, in male Cape ground squirrels, Xerus inauris
Over their lifetime, individuals may use different behavioural strategies to maximize their fitness. Some behavioural traits may be consistent among individuals over time (i.e., ‘personality’ traits) resulting...
-
Article
Open AccessAdult stem cell activity in naked mole rats for long-term tissue maintenance
The naked mole rat (NMR), Heterocephalus glaber, the longest-living rodent, provides a unique opportunity to explore how evolution has shaped adult stem cell (ASC) activity and tissue function with increasing lif...
-
Article
Open AccessExamination of head versus body heading may help clarify the extent to which animal movement pathways are structured by environmental cues?
Understanding the processes that determine how animals allocate time to space is a major challenge, although it is acknowledged that summed animal movement pathways over time must define space-time use. The cr...
-
Article
Developmental Plasticity in the Ossification of the Proximal Femur of Heterocephalus glaber (Bathyergidae, Rodentia)
The proximal femoral morphology in rodents of different body sizes, locomotor modes, and from the three main rodent lineages (Sciuromorpha, Myomorpha, and Hystricomorpha) exhibit a separated condition of the f...
-
Article
Open AccessFossorial adaptations in African mole-rats (Bathyergidae) and the unique appendicular phenotype of naked mole-rats
Life underground has constrained the evolution of subterranean mammals to maximize digging performance. However, the mechanisms modulating morphological change and development of fossorial adaptations in such ...
-
Article
Open AccessSpatial population genetic structure and colony dynamics in Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis) from the southern Kalahari
Non-random associations within and among groups of social animals can provide valuable insight into the function of group living and the evolution of social behaviour. Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis) de...
-
Article
Open AccessNaked mole-rat brown fat thermogenesis is diminished during hypoxia through a rapid decrease in UCP1
Naked mole-rats are among the most hypoxia-tolerant mammals. During hypoxia, their body temperature (Tb) decreases via unknown mechanisms to conserve energy. In small mammals, non-shivering thermogenesis in brown...
-
Article
Open AccessHow often should dead-reckoned animal movement paths be corrected for drift?
Understanding what animals do in time and space is important for a range of ecological questions, however accurate estimates of how animals use space is challenging. Within the use of animal-attached tags, rad...
-
Article
Open AccessDead-reckoning animal movements in R: a reappraisal using Gundog.Tracks
Fine-scale data on animal position are increasingly enabling us to understand the details of animal movement ecology and dead-reckoning, a technique integrating motion sensor-derived information on heading and...
-
Article
Characterization of the reproductive behaviour of the roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus)
Little information exists on the sexual behaviours of the roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus; É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803), a species listed vulnerable in southern Africa. To fill this gap, two adult males an...
-
Article
Heat tolerance in desert rodents is correlated with microclimate at inter- and intraspecific levels
Physiological diversity in thermoregulatory traits has been extensively investigated in both endo- and ectothermic vertebrates, with many studies revealing that thermal physiology has evolved in response to se...
-
Article
Open AccessAmplification of potential thermogenetic mechanisms in cetacean brains compared to artiodactyl brains
To elucidate factors underlying the evolution of large brains in cetaceans, we examined 16 brains from 14 cetartiodactyl species, with immunohistochemical techniques, for evidence of non-shivering thermogenesi...
-
Article
Open AccessEctoparasitic community of the Mahali mole-rat, Cryptomys hottentotus mahali: potential host for vectors of medical importance in South Africa
The endemic rodent family of Bathyergidae in Africa, particularly South Africa, are understudied as reservoirs of diseases of significant medical importance. Considering the diversity and wide distribution of ...
-
Chapter
Social Evolution in African Mole-Rats – A Comparative Overview
The African mole-rat superfamily are a unique group of subterranean rodents that are remarkable for their adaptations to a subterranean lifestyle and their range in sociality, spanning strictly solitary specie...
-
Chapter
Neuropeptidergic and Neuroendocrine Systems Underlying Eusociality and the Concomitant Social Regulation of Reproduction in Naked Mole-Rats: A Comparative Approach
The African mole-rat family (Bathyergidae) includes the first mammalian species identified as eusocial: naked mole-rats. Comparative studies of eusocial and solitary mole-rat species have identified difference...
-
Article
Photoperiodic effects on the male gonads of the Namibian gerbil, Gerbilliscus cf. leucogaster from central Namibia
Photoperiodism has been shown to be an important synchronizer of seasonal reproduction in many rodent species in the wild; it is a reliable cue as in the southern hemisphere it coincides with the onset of rain...
-
Article
Changes in prolactin, cortisol and testosterone concentrations during queen succession in a colony of naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber): a case study
Colonies of naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber, NMRs) are characterised by an extreme skew in lifetime reproductive success with only one female and one to three male consorts in a colony. The rest of the ind...
-
Article
Open AccessPublisher Correction: Lipidome determinants of maximal lifespan in mammals
A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.
-
Article
No evidence for multimodal body mass distributions and body mass-related capture order in wild-caught Damaraland mole-rats
Division of labour among workers is a universal property of eusocial insect societies. For Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis), a eusocial mammal, it was proposed that workers can be divided into morphologi...
