Friday, May 7, 2010

'Sabre toothed sausage'????


From the Beeb:

Meet the 'sabre-toothed sausage'

"They look a bit like a sabre-toothed sausage," says Dr Chris Faulkes, as we enter the naked mole rat laboratory at Queen Mary, University of London.

Scuttling around in a maze of tubes are dozens of small rodents. They appear to be hairless, covered with wrinkly, pink skin and they have beady, black eyes. But the thing that really catches your attention is their enormous, protruding teeth.

At first glance, it's clear that Dr Faulkes' description is spot on.

"It's a really, really bizarre looking animal," admits the scientist, who has spent the past 20 years studying naked mole rats.

These rodents, which belong to the African mole rat family, are found in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.



Go read the rest, and watch the very cool video, here.

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