Led by the nose: a queen’s scent shapes naked mole rat society

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28 July 2026 Led by the nose: a queen’s scent shapes naked mole rat society Naked mole rats live in colonies characterized by having a single breeding queen. It emerges that a queen-associated chemical helps to maintain this reproductive hierarchy. By Chris G. Faulkes ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5228-9075 0 Chris G. Faulkes Chris G. Faulkes is at the School of Biological & Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK. View author publications PubMed Google Scholar

Naked mole rats (Heterocephalus glaber) have become unlikely celebrities of modern biology. Their exceptional longevity, resistance to cancer and ability to stay healthy as they age have made them leading models for biogerontology, the study of the biological processes of ageing1. Yet the feature that first attracted scientific attention to them was arguably even more unusual. These subterranean rodents live in large colonies centred on a single breeding queen, creating ‘eusocial’ systems that resemble those of ants, termites and honeybees more closely than those of any other mammal2. How these colonies maintain stable reproductive hierarchies has remained one of the central questions in the evolution of eusociality. Writing in Nature, Khallaf et al.3 provide fascinating insights into this mystery.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02286-x

References Buffenstein, R. et al. Biol. Rev. 97, 115–140 (2022). Jarvis, J. U. M. Science 212, 571–573 (1981). Khallaf, M. A. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10772-5 (2026). Wyatt, T. D. Curr. Biol. 27, R739–R743 (2017). Doty, R. L. The Great Pheromone Myth (The John Hopkins Univ. Press, 2010). Bennett, N. C. et al. Biol. Lett. 14, 20180150 (2018). Wetzel, M. et al. Mamm. Biol. 106, 345–364 (2026). Barker, A. J. et al. Science 371, 503–507 (2021). Download references

Competing Interests The author declares no competing interests.

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