[Columbia, SC] - Riverbanks Zoo and Garden staff met a Delta Airlines plane last Thursday night at Columbia Metropolitan Airport to pick up 10 very small passengers - Damaraland mole rats that flew 1,000 miles from Texas' Houston Zoo.

"These are very socially organized animals that are fascinating to watch," said John Davis, Riverbanks Zoo and Garden's curator of mammals. "They identify chambers to use for separate purposes - feeding, nesting, sleeping and even one for a latrine and then work together to set up their burrow accordingly."

Damaraland mole rats, native to the Damara province in southern Africa and a close cousin of the naked mole rats that have gained notoriety on Nickelodeon's kids television show Kim Possible, live in social arrangements much like ants or bees. A queen mates with one or possibly two males, producing litters of worker offspring that do not breed. Riverbanks' colony was put together by Houston Zoo and consists of seven siblings born on June 24, 2005 and three other mole rats with close birthdays.

"At this point, we don't have a queen so we won't be breeding more mole rats. This is a new species to Riverbanks and we're actually only the sixth zoo in the nation to hold the species. For now, the colony is designed to be educational and interactive for our guests," Davis said.

Mole rats are community diggers, using their front incisors, which are on the exterior of their faces to cooperatively dig. One mole passes dirt to the mole behind him until it eventually makes its way to the back of the line. Riverbanks' mole rats are making their burrow in a system of see-through tunnels and chambers visible from the lobby of the Zoo's Education Center.

"Riverbanks staff members are having a hard time pulling themselves away from the exhibit because these guys are always doing something different. You can figure out a lot about their social system by watching them interact and work," said Davis.

The mole rats are already on exhibit full-time and visible during normal Zoo hours.

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