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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Satomi Miwa, Professor Thomas von Zglinicki
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© 2020 Cambridge Philosophical Society. Naked mole-rats express many unusual traits for such a small rodent. Their morphology, social behaviour, physiology, and ageing have been well studied over the past half-century. Many early findings and speculations about this subterranean species persist in the literature, although some have been repeatedly questioned or refuted. While the popularity of this species as a natural-history curiosity, and oversimplified story-telling in science journalism, might have fuelled the perpetuation of such misconceptions, an accurate understanding of their biology is especially important for this new biomedical model organism. We review 28 of these persistent myths about naked mole-rat sensory abilities, ecophysiology, social behaviour, development and ageing, and where possible we explain how these misunderstandings came about.
Author(s): Braude S, Holtze S, Begall S, Brenmoehl J, Burda H, Dammann P, del Marmol D, Gorshkova E, Henning Y, Hoeflich A, Hohn A, Jung T, Hamo D, Sahm A, Shebzukhov Y, Sumbera R, Miwa S, Vyssokikh MY, von Zglinicki T, Averina O, Hildebrandt TB
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Biological Reviews
Year: 2021
Volume: 96
Issue: 2
Pages: 376-393
Print publication date: 01/04/2021
Online publication date: 30/10/2020
Acceptance date: 13/10/2020
Date deposited: 05/07/2021
ISSN (print): 1464-7931
ISSN (electronic): 1469-185X
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12660
DOI: 10.1111/brv.12660
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