The northeast African mole-rat (''Tachyoryctes splendens'') is a species of rodent in the family Spalacidae and is found in Ethiopia, Somalia, and northwest Kenya. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, dry savanna, high-altitude

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

and grassland. It lives a solitary existence underground and produces a small litter of pups twice a year, in the two rainy seasons. Some taxonomic authorities lump this species, along with a number of others in the genus, in which case the English name East African mole-rat is used.

Distribution and habitat

The northeast African mole-rat is native to upland areas of Ethiopia, Somalia, and northwest Kenya. It is found at elevations of up to in Ethiopia and up to in other parts of its range. It is an adaptable species and able to live in a range of habitats including savanna, moist tropical forest, agricultural land, pasture, coffee plantations and gardens.

Behaviour

The northeast African mole-rat is a

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

species and lives a solitary life in a network of burrows. African mole-rats mainly use their bulging teeth, nose, and top of their head to dig channels underground. Some researchers found that their

olfactory The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. In humans, it ...

systems have increased surface area and are highly complex, an evolved trait that may have occurred due to their lifestyle of living in a community with less individuals. Female mole-rats become sexually mature at about 120 days and the average time between successive litters is around 173 days. The average size of litters is about two. The arrival of the young is synchronized with the middle of the rainy seasons which occur from April to July and again from November to December. Sometimes areas where this mole-rat lives can become flooded. Tests have shown that when this happens, the northeast African mole-rat can swim for two minutes or more, walk overground for up to at per minute and dig a new burrow. The researchers

hypothesized A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...

that flooding might encourage the animal to disperse to new areas and that the wet ground would make digging the new burrow easier. They can produce seismic signals by striking its head against the ceiling of their tunnels to communicate. These signals can be fast, probably for identification of individuals, or slow, maybe as a warning.Hrouzková, E., Dvořáková, V., Jedlička, P. ''et al.'' Seismic communication in demon African mole rat ''Tachyoryctes daemon'' from Tanzania. ''J Ethol'' 31, 255–259 (2013) doi:10.1007/s10164-013-0374-0

Status

The northeast African mole-rat is common across most of its range and its population seems stable. It does not face any major threats and for these reasons, the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

lists it as being of " Least Concern" in its Red List of Threatened Species, although the IUCN has evaluated the species in the larger view of the East African mole-rat, lumping a number of species in the genus.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1763330 Tachyoryctes Mammals of Ethiopia Mammals described in 1835 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot