Hallelujah: the naked mole-rat babies, birthed by the National Zoo colony’s one and only glorious queen, are thriving in the Small Mammal House. All of Washington, D.C. was in the dark about the state of the pups (and all the other beloved zoo wildlife) during the longest government shutdown in history, but rest easy—the babies are getting bigger and more independent by the day, according to zoo staff, and their mother is continuing in her queenly quest to procreate: She’s already pregnant again.

At least, zoo staff assumes she is. As zookeeper Kenton Kearns told DCist back in December, “that’s kind of the point of being the queen.” Naked mole-rat queens can get pregnant again within just ten days of giving birth, so the zoo will more or less assume she’s got a bun (or 10, or 30) in the oven at all times. Her Majesty will probably give birth to another litter of pups in a couple of months, likely larger than the first one—a queen’s spinal column stretches a little bit each time she gets pregnant, allowing her to fit more babies in her body the next time.

As for her current litter, the pups are doing their mother proud, getting closer every day to being regular old naked mole-rat subjects in her naked mole-rat kingdom. Last December, the queen gave birth to four pups over the course of 24 hours (true to form, she kept us on the edge of our seats, giving birth to the pups in such a drawn out fashion that it was unclear how many she had until the next day).

Here is a series of increasingly awe-inducing facts about these celebrity babies: When they were born, they were just the size of a jelly bean; now, they are the size of baby carrots. The four siblings started experimenting with solid foods at just two weeks old, and they have already weaned off of their mother’s milk, which naked mole-rats generally do at about four weeks old.  When the pups were first born, worker mole-rats (deprived of the opportunity to procreate by their despotic ruler and relegated to childcare) had to schlep them all over the colony, making sure they were always near the queen to nurse; now, they’re getting around all alone (catch them scurrying about on the National Zoo’s naked mole-rat cam). They’re still a little smaller than their compatriots, but will catch up in size soon, and will be fully mature by about a year old. For now, they are practicing for adulthood by adopting some Very Important Mole-Rat Duties: digging, “sweeping things all around” (zookeeper’s words), and carrying food about the chambers. 

More good news? There’s a truce in the naked mole-rat wars: no one else has died a bloody death since the pups were born.

Previously:
After Bloodbath, The National Zoo’s Naked Mole-Rats Finally Choose Their Queen
The National Zoo’s Naked Mole-Rats Still Have Not Chosen Their Queen