This unusual and rare in nature animal belongs to a class of mammals, a detachment of rodents.
About features that this strange animal has under the name of giant mole rat (where it lives, about places of distribution, about habits, etc.), will be told in this article.
A huge number of the most diverse living forms includes the planet Earth. For today, many of them have already died out, and the remaining ones are very difficult to count.
As a rule, a person's attention is attracted moreall beautiful animals, they can be seen in zoos, or they can be read in books. But there are also creatures on the Earth, which are difficult to meet in nature and about which not everyone knows. These kinds of animals are on the verge of extinction. It is especially difficult to see animals living underground. There are among them the rarest species of animals. One of them is a giant mole rat.
Many do not even realize how amazingand the world of wild animals that are inhabitants of the underground soil world is diverse. Most of them have started their genus since the earliest times, among which there is an amazing giant mole rider.
Giant it is relatively, since the total weight of itis only 0.7 to 1 kg, the body has a length of 25-30 cm, the length of the tail is up to 4 cm. His relatives are the closest in the family: the Bukovynian mole rat, ordinary, sandy and many other species whose body weight is 200- 300 grams is easier.
Light color, gray-fawn or ohristo-brownhas a mole rat in the upper body (photo below). In older animals, the top of the head is almost white. The color of the fur of the abdominal part has predominantly dark gray tones. Some specimens on the forehead and belly have white spots (this is partial albinism). In the coloring of fur on the belly, dark gray tones predominate. The skin of this animal is fragile and of little value.
The eyeballs of the giant mole rats are hidden under the skin, and their nerves are very poorly developed, so this animal practically does not see anything.
A giant mole rat is spread on deserted sandy areas of Ciscaucasia and the Trans-Volga region. It represents the endemic of the semi-deserts of the Caspian and inhabits the lower reaches of the rivers Terek, Kuma and Sulak.
In the south their habitats reach the lineGudermes - Makhachkala. In the Republic of Dagestan they are found in the lowlands: the Terek-Kum and Sulak. Once there was a small area of these animals in the very south of Kalmykia, but now, apparently, they disappeared there. Mole rats, living separately in the lower reaches of the river. Ural (floodplains of the rivers Uil, Emba and Temir - Kazakhstan) stand out as a separate species - the Urals mole rat.
In other countries, a giant digger does not live.
Usually a giant mole rat inhabits the sandsBumpy, adhering to relatively moist areas along river valleys and lakeside shores. In addition, they are found in wormwood and grass-grassy grasslands. Also this animal can enjoy favorable anthropogenic biotopes: gardens, fields of alfalfa and other forage grasses, household plots. It is known that in Kazakhstan the mole rat settles in even forest glades and fringes.
The behavior of this amazing animal has been little studied.
The giant mole rat leads a sedentary underground imagelife, constructing multilevel complex systems of moves underground in sand interlayers. Its incisors are the preferred tool for digging holes laid at a depth of 20-50 cm, with a diameter of 11-15 cm. The peak activity is spring (from March to April).
The surface of the earth in these places is denoted bythe release of soil in the form of piles in height 30-50 cm in diameter to 1.5 meters. The total length of the tunnels is several hundred meters, and pantries and nesting chambers are at depths of 0.9-3 meters.
Between animal settlements the distance is 150-250 m. Very rarely mole rats come to the surface. The giant mole rat is active all year round and round the clock. In hibernation, he does not fall.
Reproduction occurs once a year in early spring.Generally, from 2 to 6 cubs are born, which are at the mother's first time, and settle by autumn. The mole rat (the photo below represents the cub) reaches sexual maturity by the 2nd year of their life.
Possesses this strange animal features,which are typical for all mammals: warm-blooded, breathing occurs light, covered with hair, nurture their children "according to the rules." There is one but. Cubs appear not in the light, but in the underground darkness. So they live until the end of their days in the earth's thickness, not showing on its surface to the light.
The main food of the animal is the underground parts of plants (tubers, rhizomes and bulbs). Usually mole rats in one pantry chamber make food reserves up to 2-2.5 kg.
Competitors and enemies in nature in the giant mole rat in connection with the secretive way of life is almost none. Only the dispersed young are rarely attacked by foxes, birds of prey and cats.
A rare species of rodents in nature is a giant mole rat. The Red Book of Russia and the Red List of Rare Animals of IUCN have this rare animal in their composition.
Due to the poor knowledge of this type of accurate data on its abundance there. This is a fairly rare and poorly studied animal with a low reproductive potential.
Their number is either stable or decreasing.
And the spread of the mole rat in itsthe small area is fairly uneven. It represents individual settlements, often confined to massive sands. Also, there is a decline in populations and fragmentation of habitats due to anthropogenic processes: works related to land reclamation (plowing of fallow and virgin lands, application of pesticides, construction of irrigation canals), overgrazing of livestock in animal habitats and other economic activities that do not take into account the need to preserve such a rare underground animal, like a giant mole rat.
Reliable information on the quantity of this speciesanimals in nature are not in connection with the conditions of their life (underground). The total number of this amazing animal, perhaps, is determined by only a few thousand specimens.
It should be noted that the mining of giant mole rats is prohibited.
