The Queen's Squeak

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2021

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

"Dialects" is one of those words tossed around a lot when talking about human language. They indicate where a speaker is from. But dialects aren't exclusive to humans; scientists have known for a while that whales and songbirds also show these variations in language. Today, NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce explains research that expands that list to include naked mole rats.

Yearning for more episodes about communication between animals? Or wish we would cover something else entirely? We'd love to hear your suggestions — [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.3	Hey everybody, Emily Kwong here with reporter Nell Greenfield.
0:10.1	Voice. Hello, Nell.
0:11.6	Hello.
0:12.3	And we're here to discuss a new discovery about one of the most
0:15.4	amazing creatures on the planet, naked mole rats.
0:20.0	I saw on Twitter somebody saying they wish they cared about
0:22.9	anything as much as NPR cared about naked mole rats.
0:26.6	Wow, they really got us right. Like naked mole rats are beloved on the NPR
0:31.2	science desk reporter Ping Huang first brought them to my attention.
0:35.9	But now you're here to talk about why you're fond of them too.
0:39.1	I mean, what is not to like? They are not moles. They are not rats.
0:42.8	They're these like small, almost heralists,
0:45.9	basically sightless rodents running around underground in East Africa.
0:50.7	Yeah, and in laboratories too. Like scientists want to understand
0:54.8	these critters. They're cold-blooded mammals. They seem to
0:58.7	resist certain kinds of pain and cancer, I kind of remember.
1:02.5	And they can live an incredibly long time. So over 30 years.
1:06.6	And as you know, they've also got this really, you know,
1:09.5	fascinating social structure. Yeah.
1:11.6	They live in colonies with dozens or hundreds of naked mole rats.
1:15.6	But there's this one queen who gets to have all the babies.
	...

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