Concept/Content |
kin selection / naked mole rats |
Information caption |
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Inquiry caption |
Naked mole rats (Heterocephalus glaber) live in underground colonies, an adaptation to patchy food resources in an arid environment (O'Riain and Faulkes 2008). Some colonies are relatively isolated and, due to inbreeding, individuals in the same burrow typically share at least 80% of their genes. How might this affect the natural selection of reproduction and helping behavior?
[In naked mole rate colonies, only one female, much larger, is reproductive. Other females become sterile (Jarvis 1981; Sherman, Jarvis and Alexander 1991).]
Target Concept: Some cases of costly helping are explained by genetic relatedness.; |
Photographer |
Chris Faulkes |
Credit |
Courtesy of Chris Faulkes. |
SIZE in pixels [file size] |
640x396; 640x421; 634x451 |
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