AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

Oh sweet Jesus what in the hell is that! Kill it! Burn it! Send it back to hell!

Ok, so in real life, this naked mole rat isn't all that big and appears to be pretty harmless aside from the damage it's done to my psyche. I was wandering around BBC News trying to find something interesting to wow you all with, and suddenly this little fucker burst out of my nightmares and into what's actually a pretty interesting article. It turns out the naked mole rat can tell us quite a bit about how hormones can affect social tendencies, as their distribution of oxytocin receptors cause them to be promiscuous while their more furry, less terrifying cousin the Cape mole rat have oxytocin receptor distribution that lead them to more monogamous relationships. Studies about the cause and effect of oxytocin has been linked to a human's ability to empathize and can even be connected to certain types of autism.

But in order for me to have absorbed all of those interesting tidbits, I've been forced to have two things permanently imprinted in my mind.

1)Those oxytocin receptors that are linked to social behaviors are distributed in naked mole rats to make them behave more like ants than like other mammals. This means that if you ever come across a naked mole rat, he likely won't be alone.


2) Some of the demons from the Hellraiser movies are, in fact, based in reality.











Sweet dreams, folks.