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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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 ...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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 ...
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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.
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Article
Open AccessLocally-curved geometry generates bending cracks in the African elephant skin
An intricate network of crevices adorns the skin surface of the African bush elephant, Loxodonta africana. These micrometre-wide channels enhance the effectiveness of thermal regulation (by water retention) as we...
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Open AccessSociality does not drive the evolution of large brains in eusocial African mole-rats
The social brain hypothesis (SBH) posits that the demands imposed on individuals by living in cohesive social groups exert a selection pressure favouring the evolution of large brains and complex cognitive abi...
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Article
Open AccessIdentification of animal movement patterns using tri-axial magnetometry
Accelerometers are powerful sensors in many bio-logging devices, and are increasingly allowing researchers to investigate the performance, behaviour, energy expenditure and even state, of free-living animals. ...
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Article
Open AccessLipidome determinants of maximal lifespan in mammals
Maximal lifespan of mammalian species, even if closely related, may differ more than 10-fold, however the nature of the mechanisms that determine this variability is unresolved. Here, we assess the relationshi...
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Article
Open AccessEvidence for interspecific interactions in the ectoparasite infracommunity of a wild mammal
Co-infection with multiple parasite species is commonly observed in nature and interspecific interactions are likely to occur in parasite infracommunities. Such interactions may affect the distribution of para...
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Article
Open AccessThe Namaqua rock mouse (Micaelamys namaquensis) as a potential reservoir and host of arthropod vectors of diseases of medical and veterinary importance in South Africa
The role of endemic murid rodents as hosts of arthropod vectors of diseases of medical and veterinary significance is well established in the northern hemisphere. In contrast, endemic murids are comparatively ...
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Article
Open AccessA widespread problem: cryptic diversity in the Libyan jird
The Libyan jird, Meriones libycus, is described as occurring from Morocco to the Mongolian plateau. Three subspecies are known from morphological determinations but not genetic data. We used museum collection loc...
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Article
Open AccessA phylogenetic estimate for golden moles (Mammalia, Afrotheria, Chrysochloridae)
Golden moles (Chrysochloridae) are small, subterranean, afrotherian mammals from South Africa and neighboring regions. Of the 21 species now recognized, some (e.g., Chrysochloris asiatica, Amblysomus hottentotus)...
