African Mole-Rats Ecology and Eusociality [Paperback]

This volume, first published in 2000, explores the range of social systems in this fascinating group to understand how complex social systems evolved.African mole-rats are a unique group of subterranean rodents in which some species show complex insect-like social behaviour and reproductive strategies. This book brings together more than two decades of research on their ecology, behaviour and genetics from the field and laboratory. Examining how the field has moved on since publication of the seminal early 90s volume on Naked Mole-Rats, it explores how these species can help us to understand how complex social behaviour has evolved. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of behaviour.African mole-rats are a unique group of subterranean rodents in which some species show complex insect-like social behaviour and reproductive strategies. This book brings together more than two decades of research on their ecology, behaviour and genetics from the field and laboratory. Examining how the field has moved on since publication of the seminal early 90s volume on Naked Mole-Rats, it explores how these species can help us to understand how complex social behaviour has evolved. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of behaviour.African mole-rats are a unique taxon of subterranean rodents that range in sociality from solitary-dwelling species to two eusocial species, the Damaraland mole-rat and the naked mole-rat. The naked mole-rat is arguably the closest that a mammal comes to behaving like social insects such as bees and termites, with large colonies and a behavioral and reproductive division of labor. As a family, the Bathyergidae represent a model system with which to study the evolution and maintenance of highly social cooperative breeding strategies. In this book, Nigel Bennett and Chris Faulkes provide a synthesis of the current knowledge of bathyergid systematics, ecology, reproductive biology, behavior, and gelƒÐ