Blesmol

A blesmol is an African rodent in the family Bathyergidae, adapted to life underground. Its species range from solitary animals to highly social, cooperative colonies.

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Bathyergidae: A family of African rodents adapted to living and foraging underground. This is the rodent family that contains all blesmols.
Fossoriality: Adaptation to digging and living underground, either partly or for most of an animal's life. Blesmols are strongly fossorial, spending their lives in self-dug tunnel systems.
Naked mole-rat: A nearly hairless East African blesmol that lives in large, cooperative colonies. It is the best-known blesmol and the mammal most often associated with eusociality.
Soil ecosystem: The community of organisms and physical processes interacting within soil. Blesmol tunnels alter soil structure and create habitat used by other organisms.
European mole: A small insect-eating mammal in the family Talpidae, native to Europe and western Asia. It is a familiar underground mammal but belongs to a distant lineage.
Rodent: A mammal in the order Rodentia, whose members have continuously growing incisors. Blesmols belong to this large mammalian order.
Subterranean locomotion: Movement through underground tunnels or soil by animals adapted to confined spaces. Their compact bodies and powerful forelimbs support travel through narrow burrows.
Damaraland mole-rat: A social southern African blesmol that lives in cooperative family groups. Its group living contrasts with the solitary habits of many blesmol species.
Ecosystem engineering: The modification of habitats by organisms through their physical activities. Excavation and soil movement make blesmols ecosystem engineers.
Pocket gopher: A burrowing rodent native to the Americas, named for its external cheek pouches. It evolved underground habits independently in a different rodent family.