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Naked Mole-Rats: a book club kit
Where it comes from. A true book from Peabody's library, with what is known and what is not said plainly.
In short (for the leader; it gives the ending away). Naked mole-rats are small, nearly hairless rodents that live in underground colonies in East Africa, where one queen has the pups and the others dig, find food and guard. The book explains how they live a little like bees, how they get by in the dark, and why scientists study their long lives and unusual bodies. It says what is known, and it says plainly that the research is still early.
Reading plan. Meeting 1: pages 1–5 (about 6 minutes aloud); Meeting 2: pages 6–10 (about 6 minutes aloud).
Questions to talk about
- Are naked mole-rats blind and deaf?
The story's answer: Not completely either. Naked mole-rats have tiny eyes and see very little, though their eyes seem to sense light. They do hear, but not well: they have no outer ears and cannot tell well where a sound is coming from. They find their way mostly by touch, using whiskers and sensitive hairs, and by feeling vibrations. - How well can naked mole-rats see?
The story's answer: Very poorly. They have tiny eyes with thick eyelids, and the Smithsonian's National Zoo calls them virtually blind. Studies find a retina with most of the usual cell types in a simple arrangement, and shrunken visual areas in the brain. Researchers think their eyes may mostly sense light and dark, or help set the body's daily rhythm, rather than make sharp pictures. How much they use sight is still being studied. - How well can naked mole-rats hear?
The story's answer: They are not deaf, but their hearing is poor. Studies found that they hear a narrower range of sounds than mice do, need sounds to be louder, and have very limited ability to tell where a sound comes from. They still make soft chirps and other calls that seem to help them talk to one another, so sound matters inside the colony. - Are mole rats blind?
The story's answer: It depends on which animal the name means. “Mole-rat” is used for several different groups of burrowing rodents, including the African mole-rats and the blind mole-rats of southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa. This page is about the naked mole-rat, which sees very little but is not described as fully blind in the sources we read. - What was the most surprising thing you learned?
Listen for: Ask them to find the page it was on. - What question do you still have that the book did not answer?
Listen for: Write them down; the club can look for the answers together.
Did you know?
- They live in dry grasslands of East Africa, in countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
- A colony averages about 70 animals, and only one female, the queen, has pups.
- Their eyes are tiny and they have no outer ears, but they are very sensitive to vibrations in the ground.
Activity: Fact hunt
Each reader finds one fact in the book and one question it does not answer. Swap questions and look for the answers together (in a library book, an encyclopedia, a grown-up).
More to talk about
- How long do naked mole-rats live? A long time for a small rodent. The Smithsonian's National Zoo says 10 to 30 years, and the University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web says they have been known to reach 30. Sources differ on the longest recorded life, so treat any single number as approximate.
More facts for the leader
- The sensitive hairs on their whiskers and tails help them find their way in dark tunnels.
- Some have lived for about 30 years.
Words to teach before you start
- rodent: gnawing animal
- colony: group living together
- eusocial: one big family
- tuber: underground food root
- dialect: local speech
Questions leaders ask
How long does a Naked Mole-Rats book club meeting take?
Reading it aloud takes about 12 minutes in all, so plan 2 meetings of about 30 to 45 minutes each, with time left for the questions. The reading plan on the sheet says where to stop.
What age is Naked Mole-Rats for?
It is written at Peabody level 17, a level 17 reading level, so most children at that level can read it alone. Younger children can listen to it read aloud.
Do the children need to read it before the meeting?
No. Each child can read it free on Peabody, before the meeting or together at it, and the questions work either way. The sheet's short version gives the ending away, so keep it for the leader.
How do I use the questions?
Start with the story's own questions, which have answers in the leader's notes, then move to the open ones and listen for reasons. There is no wrong answer to an open question. Stop when the group runs out of things to say.
How this kit is made
The short version, the facts and the first questions with their answers are the story's own, written for its page in Peabody's library and checked against the sources named there. The open questions, the activity and the plan are Peabody's, written for this kind of story. No part of it is written by a computer model.
Running the meeting: the meeting plans (30, 45 and 60 minutes) and the sign-up sheet.