For most mammals, oxygen deprivation threatens the brain and organs. The naked mole rat has amazing adaptations to an environment where the air can be difficult to renew. A study published in 2017 highlighted some of this laboratory functioning.
In the experiments, the animals tolerated oxygen-poor conditions and even a period of eighteen minutes without oxygen, before recovery. Researchers have linked this resistance to the use of fructose in an energy-producing pathway. This change makes it possible to bypass a blockage encountered by the more usual metabolic functioning under these conditions.
The result does not mean that this animal can live without breathing, nor that it is insensitive to all asphyxiation. Duration and protocol are part of the evidence. What is surprising is more precise: when the environment imposes an extreme difficulty, this mammal can mobilize another way to feed its cells, instead of remaining dependent on a single metabolic path.
What we know
2017 experiment, without indefinite survival without oxygen.
To go to the source
References accessed October 11, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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