Featured in Nature Africa’s “Behind the paper” series, Prof Nigel Bennett from the Mammal Research Institute is being recognised for a career built on African mole-rats, and for a discovery nearly two decades in the making.

Professor Bennett’s journey began in 1984, when he moved from Bristol to Cape Town to study naked mole-rats. Four decades on, he has published more than 530 peer-reviewed papers, collaborated with around 100 researchers, and supervised 66 postgraduate students. His honours include the Zoological Society of Southern Africa’s Gold Medal, an NRF A rating, and the UP Chancellor’s Medal for research, awarded an unprecedented four times.

The latest chapter began in 2008 with a simple question about the enlarged teats of non-breeding males. That curiosity led him to the hormone prolactin, and in 2024 a challenge from collaborator Mohammed Khallaf to find its trigger before he retired. The answer arrived in a July 2026 Nature paper: a chemical signal released by queens that suppresses reproduction and keeps colonies stable.

This lands just ahead of Prof Bennett’s 65th birthday in October 2026, a fitting early gift for a researcher whose curiosity has shaped the field. Read the full feature by Engela Duvenage here for more.