Naked mole-rats are a peculiar bunch, spending their lives underground and barely feeling pain. Now, researchers have discovered that these tiny creatures use smell—lots of it—to keep other females from breeding.

The queen mole rat relies on an olfactory signal to suppress the fertility of her rivals, much like how ants or bees operate in a colony. The Lewin Lab at Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin found that naked mole rats have around 1200 olfactory receptor genes, more than mice and far more than humans.

“They have to navigate and move around without vision, so smell is one of those things that’s enhanced,” explains Gary Lewin. Scientists collected odour samples from the naked mole-rats by holding absorbent plastic tubes near them for about half an hour. These scents were then analyzed in a mass spectrometer, revealing over 100 distinct chemical compounds.

This study not only sheds light on the complex social structures of these unique animals but also opens up new avenues for understanding how scent plays a crucial role in social communication and hierarchy within species.