This unusual and rare in nature animal belongs to the class of mammals, the order of rodents.
The features that this strange animal has called a giant mole rat (where it lives, places of distribution, habits, etc.) will be discussed in this article.
What are rare animal species?
A huge number of the most diverse living forms include planet Earth. Today, many of them have already died out, and the remaining ones are very difficult to count.
As a rule, the attention of a person is attracted most of all by beautiful animals; they can be seen in zoos, or you can read about them in books. But there are creatures on Earth that are difficult to meet in nature and which not everyone knows about. These kinds of animals are on the verge of extinction. It is especially difficult to see animals living underground. Among them are the rarest species of animals. One of them is a giant mole rat.
Many do not even realize how amazing and diverse the world of wild animals are, who are inhabitants of the underground soil world. Most of them started their family from the earliest times, and the amazing giant mole rat is one of them.
Giant mole rat: description
It is relative to the giant, since its total weight is only from 0.7 to 1 kg, the body has a length of 25-30 cm, the tail is up to 4 cm long. other species whose body weight is 200-300 grams lighter.
The mole rat has a light color, gray-fawn or ocher-brown in the upper part of the body (photo below). In older animals, the top of the head is almost white. The color of the fur of the abdominal part is dominated by dark gray tones. Some specimens on the forehead and belly have white spots (this is partial albinism). The color of fur on the belly is dominated by dark gray tones. The skin of this animal is fragile and of little value.
The front part of the skull is
wide, the nasal
bones and the bone palate are shorter than in other species of its family. The occipital region of the mole rat is also different, located slightly lower. The front of the upper incisors is convex.
The eyeballs of the giant mole rat are hidden under the skin, and their nerves are very poorly developed, so this animal practically does not see anything.
Spread
Giant mole rat is widespread in the desert sandy areas of the Ciscaucasia and the Volga region. It represents the semi-desert endemic of the Caspian regions and lives in the lower reaches of the Terek, Kuma and Sulak rivers .
In the south, their habitats reach the Gudermes-Makhachkala line. In the Republic of Dagestan, they are found in the lowlands: Tersko-Kumsk and Sulak. Once there was a small habitat for these animals in the very south of Kalmykia, but now, apparently, they have disappeared there. The mole rats living separately behind the lower river. Urals (floodplains of the rivers Uil, Emba and Temir - Kazakhstan), stand out in a separate form - the Ural mole rat.
In other countries, a giant digger does not inhabit.
Habitat
Typically, giant mole rats live in hilly sands, adhering to relatively humid areas along river valleys and lake shores. In addition, they are found in wormwood and grass-forb steppes. Also, this animal can use favorable anthropogenic biotopes: gardens, fields of alfalfa and other forage grasses, household plots. It is known that in Kazakhstan, mole rats even inhabit forest glades and forest edges.
Lifestyle features
The behavior of this amazing animal has been little studied.
The giant mole rat leads a sedentary underground lifestyle, constructing multi-tiered complex systems of passages underground in sand layers. Its cutters are the primary tool for digging moves laid at a depth of 20-50 cm, with a diameter of 11-15 cm. The peak of digging activity is spring (from March to April).
The surface of the earth in these places is indicated by soil emissions in the form of piles 30-50 cm high with a diameter of up to 1.5 meters. The total length of the tunnels is several hundred meters, and the pantries and nesting chambers are at depths of 0.9-3 meters.
Between animal settlements the distance is 150-250 m. Very rarely mole rats come to the surface. Giant mole rat is active all year round and around the clock. He does not hibernate.
Reproduction occurs once a year in early spring. Usually from 2 to 6 cubs are born, who at first are with their mother, and by autumn they are settled. The mole rat (the photo below represents the cub) reaches puberty by the 2nd year of their life.
Behavior
This strange animal has features that are characteristic of all mammals: warm-blooded, breathing is light, covered with wool, and they carry their children "by the rules." There is one but. Cubs appear not in the light, but in the underground darkness. So they live until the end of their days in the earth, without appearing on its surface in the light.
What does mole rat eat?
The main animal nutrition is the underground parts of plants (tubers, rhizomes and bulbs). Usually, mole rats in one pantry make stocks of feed up to 2-2.5 kg.
Enemies of the mole rat
The giant mole rat has almost no rivals and enemies in nature due to its secretive lifestyle. Only fledging young animals are rarely attacked by foxes, birds of prey and cats.
In conclusion, the main thing is conservation status
A rare species of rodents in nature is a giant mole rat. The Red Book of Russia and the IUCN Red List of Rare Animals include this rare animal.
Due to the low knowledge of this species, there are no exact data on its abundance. This is a rather rare and poorly studied animal with a low reproductive potential.
Their number is either stable or declining.
Moreover, the distribution of mole rats within its small range is rather uneven. It represents individual settlements, often confined to massive sands. There is also a decrease in populations and fragmentation of the habitat under the influence of anthropogenic processes: land reclamation works (plowing fallow and virgin lands, use of pesticides, construction of irrigation canals), overgrazing in livestock areas and other economic activities that do not take into account the need to preserve such a rare underground animal, like a giant mole rat.
There is no reliable information on the amount of this type of animal in nature in connection with the conditions of their life (underground). The total number of this amazing animal, perhaps, is determined by only a few thousand copies.
It should be noted that the extraction of giant mole rats is prohibited.