Mole Rats in Captivity

[CMP]

Somewhat inspired by the thread Naked mole rats in zoos started by @Davdhole, what Mole rat species are kept in captivity and where?

The only two I've seen are the Naked mole rat, which is pretty common, and Damaraland mole rat, only at Brookfield zoo. Both species are fascinating in their social structure, which is much like a ant or bee, except these are mammals. They are also called besmols, and I think a few other species are also kept.

 

[Dassie rat]

ZTL lists the following:
Ansell's mole rat (Fukomys anselli): Basel, Berlin, Leipzig and Wuppertal Zoos
Bocage's mole rat (F becagei): Was kept at Berlin and Leipzig Zoos
Mashona mole rat (F darlingi): Was kept at London Zoo
Mechow's mole rat (F mechowii): Osnabruck and Prague Zoos; was kept at Antwerp and Plzen Zoos
Ochre mole rat (F ochraceocinerus): Was kept at London Zoo
Ghana mole rat (F zechi): Was kept at London Zoo
Cape mole rat (Georychus capensis: Was kept at London Zoo
Common mole rat (G hottentotus): Was kept at Frankfurt and London Zoos
Silvery mole rat (Heliophobius argenteocinerus: Was kept at Berlin, Leipzig-Grunau, London and Plzen Zoos
Naked male rat (Heterocephalus glaber): 39 zoos (5 former holdings)

 

[Jurek7]

The best exhibit of mole rats I saw was in a basement in the old Emmen zoo. The colony had horizontal system of plastic pipes over a mock dry soil. I think it was lighted red, like dry red clay, and invisible to the animals. Mole rats were easily seen and had much space. In the wild their tunnels stretch incredible 3 km. There are still some photos of this exhibit on the internet.

All other zoos I remember try to show a vertical cross-section of an imaginary soil. The mole rats are poorly visible and have less space. Frankly, such exhibits are not very interesting for visitors. They may be also objectively wrong - animal burrows don't typically go in layers under each other like human multi-storey buildings.

 

[birdsandbats]

The only non-Naked species I've seen is Damaraland Mole-Rat at Brookfield.

 

[PossumRoach]

The only non-Naked species I've seen is Damaraland Mole-Rat at Brookfield.

Iirc they were also in Bronx but my last visit there was in 2019 so idk if anything has changed.
@ThylacineAlive can you correct me if Bronx doesn't have the mole-rats anymore?

 

[ThylacineAlive]

Iirc they were also in Bronx but my last visit there was in 2019 so idk if anything has changed.
@ThylacineAlive can you correct me if Bronx doesn't have the mole-rats anymore?

They are still at the zoo, yes. There is a small but breeding population of this species in American zoos. One zoo, I want to say Peoria but I could be wrong, has Mechow's as well.

~Thylo

 

[Coelacanth18]

One zoo, I want to say Peoria but I could be wrong, has Mechow's as well.

I'm not sure if they are the only ones who have them, but yes Peoria does have Mechow's. They are the only other species I've seen here besides naked and Damaraland; don't think we have Ansell's over here.