may i interest you on naked mole rats, who are not really moles nor rats?
i need you to keep up with me. imagine a mammal that lives in eusociality, like bees and ants. this is the highest form of organization on the animal world and means they all have specific roles, one of these being of course, the queen.
the queen is decided by the females participating on their particular hunger games — a fight that results to death of the losers most of the time — which they happily do so, because they have the worlds most insane pain tolerance.
the rising queen takes on the task of breeding new pups, but only nurtures them for the first month, so the rest of the colony have to make do with... poop. but not any poop! Premium Poop that has all the nutrients and bacteria they need. they also serve as a bed to share the warmth with the younger ones, since theyre ectothermic (yep. like reptiles)
now, these pups will be able to grow happy and healthy, so they can work on more specific roles
the bigger and faster ones are "soldiers" responsible for fighting and keeping moles from other colonies from infiltrating and promptly sacrificing themselves in case a snake finds their burrow
the slower ones are "builders" that dig the tunnels to expand the colony (which can have up to 5 kilometers!). while doing so, they may put bits of tubers on the dirt, to guarantee theyll always have food (cute!!! they love potato!!!! cute!) they like their potatoes dry, as they dont need to drink any water
and they can do all that for all the 30 years of their lives! while not even "aging" as we know, meaning their mortality rate doesnt increase and their organs stay healthy.
this is like. metal and overpowered as hell right? now read everything again knowing said animals look like this:
