Naked mole-rat

It’s a mammal Jim, but not as we know it... Mammals are typically characterised as furry and warmblooded. The naked mole-rat is neither of these. Being underground and surrounded by hundreds of brothers and sisters, there is little fluctuation in surrounding temperature and they have all but lost the ability to regulate their body temperature physiologically. Living in the dark, they can no longer see beyond being able to tell light from dark and they lack pain receptors on their skin. Supremely adapted to their subterranean existence, however, they can run backwards as well as forwards through their tunnels, and can almost somersault within their loose skin, allowing them to manoeuvre around confined spaces. The only hairs on their bodies are specially sensitised to touch, like a cat’s whiskers, which allows them to sense the space around them.