Beasts of science: naked mole rats speak several dialects!"Bêtes de science" is like a collection of stories. Beautiful stories that tell the living in all its freshness. But also in all its complexity. A parenthesis to marvel at the treasures of the world. For this new episode, let's head back to Africa and meet an astonishing rodent: the naked mole rat. The naked mole rat. He's a funny animal. A kind of giant mouse that lives underground in the arid regions of Ethiopia and the southern Saharan. No hair. Very small eyes. Large incisors. In short, a physique that one could easily indulge in qualifying as unsightly. However, researchers are very interested in the mole rat. Because her skin heals incredibly quickly. Because it is almost immune to burns. Because it seems resistant to cancer. Or, because he shows almost no signs of aging. Until the day before his death! But if we are talking about him today, it is also because the naked mole rat is a great communicator. He chirps. It squeaks. He chirps. He growls. And all this in a dialect specific to its colony. One way, according to the researchers, to strengthen cohesion and the feeling of belonging within a group. To ensure its prosperity. At the heart of the dialect culture, a female, but how did researchers detect dialects in the bizarre noises made by naked mole rats? By recording over 36,000 chirps over two years. Then by analyzing the acoustic properties of these vocalizations using an algorithm.
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