Adaptive neural organization of naked mole-rat somatosensation (and those similarly challenged)

Abstract

The somatosensory system of subterranean mammals has received relatively little attention in comparison to their visual and auditory systems. In this chapter we will briefly summarize recent findings on somatosensory organization in naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber).We will compare this information with previous findings from other subterranean rodents and some non-rodent subterranean mammals, and we will contrast this picture of adaptation to life underground with neural and behavioral organization in appropriate non-subterranean mammals. The analysis suggests that subterranean mammals are somatosensory specialists in the same sense that bats and barn owls are auditory specialists, and that the subterraneans will provide general insights into brain function and its evolution in a manner similar to the well-known examples from the auditory domain.