This is an interesting piece about a "succession" war in a naked mole rat zoo colony.
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/31/1198...-mole-rat-war-of-succession?ft=nprml&f=510351
There is a transcript in the upper right of the linked article page for folks who (like me) don't have the patience to listen to a 15-min podcast.
I do wonder if they are seeing an artifact of captivity, though, just as they did with captive wolf packs fighting for status more than wild ones (because the mature individuals weren't allowed to disperse). A lot of what everyone thought they knew about wolves, and some other social species too, was based on an artificial situation where a group of unrelated adults were tossed together or where adult offspring couldn't disperse.
If breeding female naked mole rats generally live to 30 in the wild, something seems off with her being killed by her cohorts when she's so young. Is it possible this colony has grown too large for the available space?
Should the zoo reduce the size of this colony or provide a place for some individuals to leave or disperse, the way they do sometimes in the wild? It seems kind of cruel to let them fight it out like this, without knowing if this is truly a "natural" behavior or not.
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/31/1198...-mole-rat-war-of-succession?ft=nprml&f=510351
There is a transcript in the upper right of the linked article page for folks who (like me) don't have the patience to listen to a 15-min podcast.
I do wonder if they are seeing an artifact of captivity, though, just as they did with captive wolf packs fighting for status more than wild ones (because the mature individuals weren't allowed to disperse). A lot of what everyone thought they knew about wolves, and some other social species too, was based on an artificial situation where a group of unrelated adults were tossed together or where adult offspring couldn't disperse.
If breeding female naked mole rats generally live to 30 in the wild, something seems off with her being killed by her cohorts when she's so young. Is it possible this colony has grown too large for the available space?
Should the zoo reduce the size of this colony or provide a place for some individuals to leave or disperse, the way they do sometimes in the wild? It seems kind of cruel to let them fight it out like this, without knowing if this is truly a "natural" behavior or not.
