Single Chemical From Naked Mole-Rat Queen Keeps Whole Colony Infertile
Researchers have identified a specific chemical, isopropyl myristate, that naked mole-rat queens use to suppress the fertility of other females in their colony. This discovery highlights a rare instance of chemical-based reproductive control in mammals.
Naked mole-rats are one of nature’s strangest animals: hairless, wrinkled rodents that live like ants in underground tunnels, ruled by a single breeding queen. For decades, biologists were stumped by one question about them. How does that queen stop every other female in her colony from ever having babies? Researchers now have a strong lead, and much of it comes down to a single chemical her body makes.
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