The Extraordinary Biology of the Naked Mole-Rat

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Social Evolution in African Mole-Rats – A Comparative Overview

   • Christopher G. Faulkes, Nigel C. Bennett

   Pages 1-33

3. Social Behavior in Naked Mole-Rats: Individual Differences in Phenotype and Proximate Mechanisms of Mammalian Eusociality

   • Melissa M. Holmes, Bruce D. Goldman

   Pages 35-58

4. Neuropeptidergic and Neuroendocrine Systems Underlying Eusociality and the Concomitant Social Regulation of Reproduction in Naked Mole-Rats: A Comparative Approach

   • Clive W. Coen, Nigel C. Bennett, Melissa M. Holmes, Christopher G. Faulkes

   Pages 59-103

5. Adult Neural Plasticity in Naked Mole-Rats: Implications of Fossoriality, Longevity and Sociality on the Brain’s Capacity for Change

   • Skyler J. Mooney, Nancy G. Forger, Melissa M. Holmes

   Pages 105-135

6. Sensory Systems of the African Naked Mole-Rat

   • Emily N. Vice, Samantha Lagestee, Brigitte M. Browe, Deblina Deb, Ewan St. J. Smith, Thomas J. Park

   Pages 137-156

7. Hearing and Vocalizations in the Naked Mole-Rat

   • Alison J. Barker, Ursula Koch, Gary R. Lewin, Sonja J. Pyott

   Pages 157-195

8. The Somatosensory World of the African Naked Mole-Rat

   • Gary R. Lewin, Ewan St. J. Smith, Jane Reznick, Karlien Debus, Alison J. Barker, Thomas J. Park

   Pages 197-220

9. The Idiosyncratic Physiological Traits of the Naked Mole-Rat; a Resilient Animal Model of Aging, Longevity, and Healthspan

   • Rochelle Buffenstein, Wendy Craft

   Pages 221-254

10. African Naked Mole-Rats Demonstrate Extreme Tolerance to Hypoxia and Hypercapnia

    • Thomas J. Park, Ewan St. J. Smith, Jane Reznick, N. C. Bennett, Daniel T. Applegate, John Larson et al.

    Pages 255-269

11. A Sweet Story of Metabolic Innovation in the Naked Mole-Rat

    • Jane Reznick, Thomas J. Park, Gary R. Lewin

    Pages 271-286

12. Insights into the Molecular Basis of Genome Stability and Pristine Proteostasis in Naked Mole-Rats

    • Vikram Narayan, Mary McMahon, Jonathon J. O’Brien, Fiona McAllister, Rochelle Buffenstein

    Pages 287-314

13. The Unusual Immune System of the Naked Mole-Rat

    • Tzuhua Lin, Rochelle Buffenstein

    Pages 315-327

14. Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Cancer-Resistant Naked Mole-Rats

    • Kyoko Miura, Yuki Oiwa, Yoshimi Kawamura

    Pages 329-339

15. Naked Mole-Rats: Resistant to Developing Cancer or Good at Avoiding It?

    • Fazal Hadi, Ewan St. J. Smith, Walid T. Khaled

    Pages 341-352

16. Spontaneous Disease and Pathology of Naked Mole-Rats

    • Martha A. Delaney, Denise M. Imai, Rochelle Buffenstein

    Pages 353-380

17. Managed Care of Naked Mole-Rats

    • Megan Smith, Rochelle Buffenstein

    Pages 381-407

18. Some Exciting Future Directions for Work on Naked Mole-Rats

    • Ewan St. J. Smith, Thomas J. Park, Melissa M. Holmes, Rochelle Buffenstein

    Pages 409-420

19. Back Matter

    Pages 421-445

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This volume focuses on the huge advances in the last 25 years on the use of this animal model for biomedical research (cancer, heart disease and neurodegeneration), fundamental neuroscience and basic subterranean biology. In 2013, Science magazine named the naked mole-rat as the Vertebrate of the Year. This was partly due to research carried out documenting its extreme longevity, negligible senescence, and prolonged maintenance of cancer free, good health well into old age as well as seminal work on mechanisms involved in these processes, pain and hypoxia resistance. In addition to this research focus on longevity and chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, the naked mole-rat has also made a substantial contribution to the fields of ecophysiology, neuroscience and behavior. With international contributions, this book provides a valuable text for zoological students, behavioral scientists and biomedical researchers.

• naked mole-rat
• longevity
• neurological mechanisms
• hypoxia
• animal models

• Calico Life Sciences LLC, South San Francisco, USA

  Rochelle Buffenstein

• Laboratory of Integrative NeuroscienceDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA

  Thomas J. Park

• Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada

  Melissa M. Holmes

Dr. Rochelle (Shelley) Buffenstein is a Senior Principal Investigator at Calico Life Sciences LLC, a company dedicated to harnessing advanced technologies to understand the basic biology of aging.  She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Shelley has published more than 180 publications, and has been recognized with several awards, including a Breakthroughs in Gerontology award from the Glenn Foundation, an Ellison Medical Foundation Senior scholar award, the ADPS Longevity Award and the American Aging Association Denham Harman Lifetime Achievement award.  Shelley started off her career as an ecophysiologist studying a diverse suite of species that inhabit extremely challenging environments, undertaking her PhD under the mentorship of Jenny Jarvis on the ecophysiology of desert rodents.  While a student at the University of Cape Town, she accompanied Jenny Jarvis on various field trips to Kenya, Namibia and within South Africa to undertake field work on mole-rats and other rodents.  A key focus of her research over the last 30 years has been the physiology, endocrinology and aging biology of the exceptionally long-lived (~35 years) naked mole-rat and the molecular mechanisms these mouse-size rodents employ to maintain good health, reproductive fitness and cognition well into their third decade. Working with a species that hasn’t read the textbook of how to behave like a mammal has been an incredibly rewarding experience, forging terrific friendships through collaboration and intriguing scientific challenges.


Thomas Park is a professor of Biological Sciences and Neuroscience at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His graduate training was in behavioral assessments of sound perception in birds and gerbils. His post-doctoral training was in electrophysiology of auditory brain regions in awake bats. After taking a position at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he obtained a colony of naked mole-rats from Professor Jenny Jarvis with the idea of studying their hearing. But the naked mole-rats spoke to him and expanded his research focus and his life. Now, in addition to hearing, he focuses on amazing adaptations that naked mole-rats have for tolerating oxygen deprivation and high concentrations of carbon dioxide. Working with naked mole-rats has also opened the door for wonderful collaborations and lifelong friendships.


Melissa Holmes is an associate professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her doctoral training was in sexual differentiation and adult plasticity in green anoles. Working with Professor Nancy Forger, her post-doctoral training was in sex and status effects on neural plasticity in naked mole-rats. When starting her position at the University of Toronto, she inherited a colony of naked mole-rats from Professor Bruce Goldman, to continue their work on behavioral neuroendocrinology and adult neural plasticity. She continues to use multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to primarily focus on the remarkable social and reproductive adaptations in naked mole-rats as well as contribute to a variety of diverse research questions through many successful and rewarding collaborative projects. 

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