Africa’s naked mole rat colonies have own dialects

Research into the chatter of naked mole rats has shown that individual colonies each have their own distinct dialect.

Naked mole rats - which are found in eastern Africa - live in colonies, dominated by a single breeding queen, in a hierarchy similar to ants or termites.

Scientists at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin used machine learning to analyse chirps learned by young pups. These are used to determine who is friend or foe.

The researchers believe the queen plays a key role in keeping the colony speaking with one voice.

When a queen dies, the dialects start to vary, coalescing again when the new queen emerges.

This article was originally published by BBC News. [Photo: Getty Images]