It’s Monday again, and more thrilled I couldn’t be. But at least I don’t look like this poor guy. Sometimes Mother Nature plays really cruel jokes…

The naked mole rat (also known as the desert mole rat or sand puppy) is a native of East Africa, and aside from being one heck of an ugly creature, it is eusocial and has a distinctly odd set of traits that allows it to survive in an underground habitat, including being cold-blooded and lacking pain sensation. And apparently, being really ugly.

Fun facts on the naked mole rat:

They live in groups, with an average of 80 members.

In that cluster, there is only one female (the queen) and one to three males who reproduce with the queen – the rest of the members function as workers.

Both male and female naked mole rats are able to reproduce starting at age one.

The gestation stage lasts about 70 days, and the young are born blind.

They can move backwards as fast as they can forward.

The naked mole rat is not an endangered species.

A naked mole rat named Rufus is a character on the Disney Channel cartoon Kim Possible.

Oh so much more on this truly unsexy phallic mammal at Wikipedia.org.

Source: Wikipedia

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