Naked Mole Rat's Birth Control Method: Infertility Through Intimidation.


Photo Credit: Rochelle Buffenstein / City College of New York

Here's birth control, queen naked mole-rat style:

In African naked mole-rat colonies, the queen is the only reproducing female—a feat she accomplishes by bullying around her fellow blind,
tunnel-digging companions. [...]

“The queen exerts her dominance over the colony by, literally, pushing the other members of the colony around. She shoves them to show who’s boss,” said Chris Faulkes, a zoologist at the University of London.

Faulkes explained that the stressful domination reduces fertility hormone levels—effectively suppressing puberty in young mole-rats, lowering sperm counts in males and even turning off the female ovulatory cycle .

“The queen also seems to exert control over the breeding males, so that concentrations of their testosterone are suppressed except when she is ready to mate,” he said.

Link - via The Good Reverend


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Damn, I thought the albino beaver was a once in a lifetime thing, ....that mean bitch ugly!! My sperm count would fall will the unit's descent.....
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"She shoves them to show who’s boss,” said Chris Faulkes, a zoologist at the University of London.
She likely just shoves the pregnant ones down the stairs.
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