Naked mole rat queens rule with an iron forepaw: these wrinkly, bucktoothed monarchs forbid any other female from reproducing — that is, until they die and all hell breaks loose. Then the once-deferential females rise up and wage bloody battles against one another to vie for the crown. They attack other females, kill pups and wreak havoc until one emerges, dominant and victorious, to claim the throne and become the only breeding female in the colony.
But at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, something unexpected happened: a queen peacefully handed her power to one of her daughters, with no death or gore necessary.
