2. Read the text. What does it say about the habitat, appearance and behaviour of the giant mole rat? What did you find interesting about it? The giant mole rat is an unusual rodent found in the sandy desert areas of Kazakhstan and southern Russia. It spends most of its life underground in its burrows. It is blind as a result of its underdeveloped eyeballs, which are the size of a rice grain, that are covered by layers of skin. To make up for its disability, the giant mole rat has very sharp teeth that it uses to gnaw food and dig burrows. The burrows can be extreme living areas - up to 1,100 feet in length! Digging such an extensive tunnel can take anything up to two months to complete. The giant mole rat digs tunnels to find new food, which usually consists of roots, foliage, earthworms and insect larvae. Once it has eaten up all the available food, it blocks up the burrow from the inside and then climbs out to dig a new one.

The giant mole rat lives in sandy desert areas of Kazakhstan and southern Russia. It spends nearly all of its life underground, in long burrows that can reach up to 1,100 feet in length.

It has an unusual appearance because it is blind. Its eyeballs are very small, about the size of a grain of rice, and they are covered with layers of skin. However, it has very sharp teeth, which help it compensate for not being able to see.

The giant mole rat uses its teeth to gnaw food and dig tunnels. It eats roots, leaves, earthworms and insect larvae. It digs new tunnels to look for food, and making a very long burrow can take up to two months. When there is no more food left in one burrow, the animal blocks the tunnel from the inside, comes out, and starts digging a new one.

I found it especially interesting that such a small animal can dig tunnels more than 1,000 feet long. Its tiny, skin-covered eyes and its ability to live almost completely underground are also surprising.