When a queen\u2019s fertility declines or disappears, the colony fights a bloody succession battle<\/a>. However, that violent fight for domination does not always occur. Peaceful succession between reigning queens and subordinate females is possible within an established naked mole-rat colony during times of stress. The findings are detailed in a study published today in the journal Science Advances<\/a> and upends a lot of what we know about the rodent\u2019s flexibility and resilience.\u00a0<\/p>\n A special lab rat<\/p>\n Native to eastern Africa, naked mole-rats have been particularly fascinating<\/a> to scientists for over half a century. They were first brought into the lab in the 1960s due to their unusual adaptations to life underground. By the 1970s, scientists discovered that they are among the only eusocial<\/a> mammals. Eusocial animals like bees and ants live in a colony with strict hierarchies and a single child-rearing queen.\u00a0<\/p>\n Naked mole-rats also stick out for other reasons. They have a fairly long life-span, with some living up to 30 years, can thrive in dark and dank underground tunnels, do not feel inflammatory pain, and are resistant to age-related diseases like cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the wild, naked mole-rats live in a relatively stable environment.<\/a> With this stability and not having to worry as much about food and other resources, they can spend energy on their typically aggressive and rigid reproductive strategy. Scientists believe that this strategy reduces reproductive conflict and infanticide, while keeping resources pooled towards one litter at a time. However, with this strategy comes the risk of injury and disruptions to social cohesion. The colony\u2019s growth also hinges on the ability of\u00a0 one queen\u2019s reproductive system.\u00a0<\/p>\n Triggering succession<\/p>\n For this study, the team focused on their eusocial structure and the rodents\u2019 resilience in the face of trouble.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cResilience is the ability of biological systems to recover or return to their normal state after stress and is central for our understanding of health and disease,\u201d Janelle Ayres<\/a>, a study co-author and Salk Institute biologist, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cWhile much research focuses on conflict, my lab studies cooperation as a fundamental organizing principle.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Ayres, investigating how group cooperation drives resilience can reveal what allows biological systems to recover and function after a challenge like a queen\u2019s reign ending.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor years we\u2019ve known that only one female, the queen, reproduces, and that queen succession occurs through violent queen wars,\u201d added study co-author and postdoctoral researcher Shanes Abeywarden<\/a>. \u201cWe wanted to see if multiple queens could peacefully exist.\u201d<\/p>\n To learn how they balance the pros and cons of their rigid reproductive strategy, they observed a naked mole-rat colony for six years. During the first year, the team established a healthy, reproducing colony with one queen in their lab. Next, they introduced consecutive environmental stressors\u2014increased density within the colony and moving it to a new location. Both of these stressors have been shown to destabilize reproduction in other rodents.<\/p>\n After increasing colony density, the queen still conceived and gave birth, but the pups had poor survival outcomes. However, the queen still remained the sole reproductive naked mole-rat. Moving the colony to a new facility, the queen\u2019s reproductive success was completely compromised. She could no longer produce litters, which triggered succession.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the next year, the team watched as one subordinate female from the colony slowly inched toward the crown. Surprisingly, the queen and this subordinate female cooperated, even maintaining partially overlapping pregnancies to help the colony in the face of environmental stress. A second subordinate eventually emerged, taking over the queen\u2019s place. The queen slipped peacefully into a nonreproductive role in the colony, during a gradual, nonviolent succession.<\/p>\n \u201cOur study reveals a \u2018hidden\u2019 side of reproductive organization in naked mole-rat colonies, which opens an entirely new line of inquiry when studying naked mole-rats,\u201d added study co-author and biologist Alexandria Schraibman<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tRelated Naked Mole-Rat Stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n Only the resilient survive<\/p>\n For scientists, this peaceful queen succession in naked mole-rat colonies is a significant step toward understanding how they adapt and thrive as one of the only eusocial mammals on Earth. In future studies they hope to find out more about what determines if succession is aggressive or peaceful and what ecological or social factors influence that decision.<\/p>\n
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