THE MAMMAL FILES: HAIR-RAISING, John S. Hendricks

Judul/Title: The Mammals Files: Hair-Raising
Penulis/Author: John S. Hendricks
Penerbit/Publisher: Discovery Channel School Edisi/Edition: 1998
Halaman/Pages: 32
Dimensi/Dimension: 14 x 20 x 1.5cm
Sampul/Cover: Paperback
Bahasa/Language: English
Harga/Price: Rp. 45.000
Call No.: 599/Hen/h/C.1
Status: Ada/Available

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The animal is a mammal-technically, at least. It is an actual animal called the naked mole rat and it lives underground in African deserts.

Naked mole rats have hair, four legs, and give birth to live young. Sound like a mammal? Right. But they live like insects. There is a queen who is the only one who mates and reproduces. All the other animals are sterile, wich means they can't reproduces. These sterile animals are workers, like worker termites or worker bees. And each has it's own role to play in the colony. Some tend to the babies, some dig, and other find food.

Mammals are endothermic, or warm-blooded. But naked mole rats are exothermic. Their body temperature is determined greatly by the environment. Insects are endothermic too.

So how did scientists decide to classify the naked mole rat as mammal?
One word: hair only mammals have hair.