Do you agree that Naked Mole Rats are beautiful? Does it irk you to no end when you hear someone state that they are ugly? Does it make you mad when the MSM, oblivious, ignorant and insensitive, repeats that standard denialists' trope? Are you sick-and-tired of the "he-said-she-said" journalism that just HAS to, every time, quote some anti-naked-mole-rat bigot whenever these lovely animals are mentioned? Are you aware that a Heterocephalus glaber is not allowed to run for office in 27 states of the USA? These days, you cannot even slander atheists in a political speech any more without paying the price at the polls, yet it is deemed perfectly normal to crack jokes at the poor defenseless rodent! Why? Just because it is hairless, i.e., DIFFERENT than most of us!
No, my friends! It is time to stand up to these naked mole-rattists! Join the Facebook group and report all the ugly slurs to the rest of the group members, so we can incur the wrath of the Internets on those who still harbor the "old time" resentments toward this beautiful cousin of ours.
And just because they are blind does not mean they do not have eyes or cannot detect light. While the image-processing structures are greatly diminished, their circadian photoreception is intact. And, when monitored one-by-one (i.e., not in a colony setting the way Paul Sherman initially and erronoeusly reported), some individuals display circadian rhythms in activity and body temperature. The strongest, clearest rhythms are exhibited by the disperser morphs - those males who leave the colony and travel some ways trying to find and join another colony elsewhere.
Life Science
Comments
Nope. Ugly.
In fact they are so ugly if they weren't blind they would probably be extinct.
Posted by: dc | October 30, 2007 1:15 AM
I would like to report dc.
Posted by: PZ Myers | October 30, 2007 1:07 PM
[Dave Berry voice]
I do think that Naked Mole Rats would make a great name for a rock band.
Posted by: Ferrous Patella | October 30, 2007 1:19 PM
Like Mick Jagger, their coolness utterly eclipses their physical ugliness.
Posted by: jim a | October 30, 2007 3:16 PM
The jury is now debating how severe a sentence should be given to dc....
Posted by: Coturnix | October 30, 2007 3:26 PM
I do think that Naked Mole Rats would make a great name for a rock band.
Posted by: stoat100 | October 30, 2007 3:47 PM
Naked mole rats are the best proof that God exists--no creature could possibly be so ugly without having been on the wrong end of divine wrath.
Posted by: Skemono | October 30, 2007 4:34 PM
Like an overcooked wiener with teeth.
But they may be an interesting biogerontological model system, so I don't hate them.
Posted by: CP | October 30, 2007 4:45 PM
I think naked mole rats are the best.
Posted by: Julie | October 30, 2007 5:17 PM
In mitigation, I don't hate them. I think they're fascinating. But I know ugly when I see it: I'm no oil-painting myself.
Posted by: dc | October 30, 2007 5:21 PM
"Naked mole rats are the best proof that God exists--no creature could possibly be so ugly without having been on the wrong end of divine wrath."
yeah...that's what they said about the dodo too. So they killed em all.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | October 30, 2007 6:12 PM
It sounds like the fan club for the Ron Stoppable character from the Kim Possible cartoon has taken things too far.
Posted by: Aerik | October 30, 2007 7:14 PM
I don't think anything in the natural world is ugly. Evolution happens for survival reasons, the naked mole rat looks like it does because that is best for it's lifestyle.
I find the way all organisms happen fascinating and wonderful.
Just saying.
Posted by: Paula Helm Murray | October 30, 2007 11:34 PM
The star-nosed mole has my vote for ugliest mammal.
Posted by: JN | November 2, 2007 12:21 AM