African underground rodent naked excavator does not age and does not suffer from cancer.
Scientists from many countries are interested in a rare animal as a naked digger. It has long been noted that these rodents, which live underground in semi-deserts and savannas of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, practically do not age and do not get cancer. These animals do not exceed 10 cm in size, live many times longer than their counterparts, for example mice. The mouse is considered to be a long-liver, its life is three years, and the naked digger is almost thirty years old. Not so long ago, the excavator genome was deciphered, which will allow not only to explain many curious features of rodents, but also to draw from this practical benefit for people.
Naked diggers are very curious creatures. They look like newborn rats. And in the adult age the animals are not covered with hair, the eyes are tiny (and why are they in the dark under the ground?), But the front incisors are frightening in size, a quarter of all the muscles are on the jawbone. The incisors of rodents erupt in the ground long tunnels. For a day they can go 3-5 km under the earth, throwing up to 4 tons of soil.
It happens this way: the rodent-forward digs the ground and rakes it under his paws, the rest of the animals push the ground to the exit. The chain of sinkers is constantly lengthened, the tired forward replaces the next behind him. In general, the community of naked excavators with its sociality is more like some insects than beasts.
Scientists who seem to have got to one of the secrets of a naked digger: they found a substance that protects animals from cancer. If scientists are right, humanity will receive a new drug that prevents cancer.