This volume focuses on the huge advances in the last 25 years on the use of this animal model for biomedical research (cancer, heart disease and neurodegeneration), fundamental neuroscience and basic subterranean biology. In 2013, Science magazine named the naked mole-rat as the Vertebrate of the Year. This was partly due to research carried out documenting its extreme longevity, negligible senescence, and prolonged maintenance of cancer free, good health well into old age as well as seminal work on mechanisms involved in these processes, pain and hypoxia resistance. In addition to this research focus on longevity and chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, the naked mole-rat has also made a substantial contribution to the fields of ecophysiology, neuroscience and behavior. With international contributions, this book provides a valuable text for zoological students, behavioral scientists and biomedical researchers.

Dedication

About the editors
Preface (Jarvis JUM)
Chapter 1. Social evolution in African mole-rats - a comparative overview (Faulkes CG & Bennett NC)
Chapter 2. Social behavior in naked mole-rats: individual differences in phenotype and proximate mechanisms of mammalian eusociality (Holmes MM & Goldman BD)
Chapter 3. Neuropeptidergic and neuroendocrine systems underlying eusociality and the concomitant social regulation of reproduction in naked mole-rats: a comparative approach (Coen CW, Bennett N, Holmes MM, & Faulkes CG)
Chapter 4. Adult neural plasticity in naked mole-rats: implications of fossoriality, longevity and sociality on the brain's capacity for change (Mooney SJ, Forger NG, & Holmes MM)
Chapter 5. Sensory Systems of the African Naked Mole-Rat (Vice EN, Lagestee S, Browe BM, Deb D, Smith ESJ, Park TJ)
Chapter 6. Hearing and vocalizations in the naked mole-rat (Barker AJ, Koch, U, Lewin GR, Pyott, SJ)
Chapter 7. The somatosensory world of the African naked mole-rat (Lewin GR, Smith ESJ, Reznick J, Debus K, Barker A, and Park TJ)
Chapter 8. The idiosyncratic physiological traits of the naked mole-rat; a resilient animal model of aging, longevity, and healthspan (Buffenstein R and Craft W)
Chapter 9. African Naked Mole-Rats Demonstrate Extreme Tolerance to Hypoxia and Hypercapnia (Park TJ, Smith ESJ, Reznick J, Bennett NC, Applegate DT, Larson J, Lewin GR)
Chapter 10. A sweet story of metabolic innovation in the naked mole-rat (Reznick J, Park TJ, and Lewin GR)
Chapter 11. Insights into the molecular basis of genome stability and pristine proteostasis in naked mole-rats (Narayan V, McMahon M, O'Brien J, McAllister F and Buffenstein R)
Chapter 12. The Unusual Immune System of the Naked Mole-Rat (Lin TD and Buffenstein R)
Chapter 13
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Cancer-Resistant Naked Mole-rats (Miura. K, Oiwa Y, and Kawamura Y)
Chapter 14. Naked mole-rats: resistant to developing cancer or good at avoiding it? (HadiF, Smith ESJ and Khaled WT)
Chapter 15. Spontaneous Disease and Pathology of Naked Mole-rats (Delaney MA, Imai DM, Buffenstein R)
Chapter 16. Managed Care of Naked Mole-rats (Smith M, and Buffenstein¬ R)
Chapter 17. Some exciting future directions for work on naked mole-rats (Smith ESJ, ParkTJ, Holmes MM and Buffenstein R).