Underground life is still safest: comments on ‘Danger underground and in the open – predation on blind mole rats (Rodentia, Spalacinae) revisited’

Németh et al. (Mammal Review 46, 2016, 204) recently reviewed the relationships between Old World blind mole rats (Spalacidae) and their predators. They concluded that blind mole rats are regularly taken by predators throughout their range, and that predation pressure probably contributed to blind mole rat evolution and underground behaviour. I argue instead that blind mole rats are rare or accidental prey for most predators, and list a number of alternative explanations for cases where a high predation rate was observed. I conclude that no blind mole rat species that has been studied is important prey for any predator species that can encounter it.