August 28, 2018
Azabu University
Keio University School of Medicine
Kumamoto University
A research team, including Akiyuki Watarai from the Doctoral Programs in the Graduate School of Veterinary Science at Azabu University, Associate Professor Kazutaka Mogi, Professor Takefumi Kikusui, and researchers from Keio University School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, and the Graduate School of Kumamoto University, has discovered that in colonies of the naked mole-rat, a eusocial species rare among mammals, non-breeding worker mole-rats enhance their maternal instincts by eating the feces of the pregnant queen and become babysitters for her pups after she gives birth. They also found that this is due to the effects of estrogen contained in the queen's feces. This research not only reveals the ingenious cooperative breeding mechanism of naked mole-rats but is also an important discovery for understanding the evolution of parenting behavior. Furthermore, it is the first example in mammals to show that hormones in feces can control the behavior of other individuals.
These findings were published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on August 27, 2018 (U.S. Eastern Time).
For the full press release, please see below.