It sounds like science fiction, like a description of a society where the dictator makes everyone else obedient by spreading a certain type of chemical in the environment. But that is how naked mole rats live.
The species (Heterocephalus glaber), which lives underground in colonies of up to 300 individuals, has been intensively studied because of its many strange characteristics. Apart from another species of subterranean rodent in southern Africa, it is the only one to have a social system similar to that of social insects, in which only a dominant female and a few males mate and produce offspring, while the rest of the individuals in the colony function as workers.
Control with scents
The naked mole rat is also not warm-blooded like other mammals, but cold-blooded like reptiles. It can also survive on extremely low amounts of oxygen, is relatively insensitive to pain, and almost never gets cancer.
The big question has been how the queen controls the colony. It has long been suspected that this is done using scents, like in bees, ants and wasps, and the new study, published in Nature, shows that this is true.
The researchers used mass spectrometry to analyse which scents were released only by the queen.
They identified a well-known substance, isopropyl myristate, which is often used in cosmetic products to make them moist. We humans cannot smell the substance, but it turned out to have a powerful effect on the naked mole rats. All females except the queen become infertile. In this way, the queen in the colony has sole right to reproduce.
Losing sex drive
Fascinatingly, the substance has an inhibitory effect on other females even when the queen is not present. They simply lose all interest in sex. Experiments showed that isopropyl myristate's effect is due to it controlling the levels of hormones that affect reproduction.
If the queen dies or disappears, everything changes. The level of aggression in the colony soars, as does the sex drive, leading to fierce battles for precedence - until a new female takes over the role of queen and can rule the colony with her scents.
