Common mole-rat

Weight

78.9 g – 102 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

11 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

11 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Gestation

81.3 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

2.86src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

14.8 monthssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

1.5src for Litters or clutches a year

Active

Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The common mole-rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderRodentia
5. familyBathyergidae
6. genusCryptomys
7. SpeciesCryptomys hottentotus (Lesson, 1826)

Synonyms Bathyergus hottentotus

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Cape mole-rat

Georychus capensis

Bathyergidae

LC, Least Concern

Damaraland mole-rat

Fukomys damarensis

Bathyergidae

LC, Least Concern

Cape dune mole-rat

Bathyergus suillus

Bathyergidae

LC, Least Concern

Silvery mole-rat

Heliophobius argenteocinereus

Bathyergidae

LC, Least Concern

N

Namaqua dune mole-rat

Bathyergus janetta

BathyergidaeNo free photo yet

LC, Least Concern

G

Ghana mole-rat

Fukomys zechi

BathyergidaeNo free photo yet

CompareCommon mole-rat vs Cape mole-ratCommon mole-rat vs Damaraland mole-ratCommon mole-rat vs Cape dune mole-ratCommon mole-rat vs Silvery mole-rat

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{common_mole_rat_2026,
  title = {Common mole-rat (Cryptomys hottentotus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-mole-rat},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}