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The aridity food distribution hypothesis (AFDH) maintains that ecological constraints in arid habitats curtail dispersal and promote the evolution of cooperative foraging social groups within the African mole-rats. To evaluate the validity of the AFDH, we investigated inter-habitat differences in food resource characteristics, foraging behaviour, colony size and individual body mass in two common mole-rat populations, one from a mesic and one from an arid habitat. Although food was clumped at both localities, the geophyte density was lower at the arid site. However, geophytes from the arid site were larger than those from the mesic region, and this is suggested to compensate for the reduced geophyte density, enabling colonies to meet their energy requirements. Differences in food resource characteristics in turn influenced the pattern of foraging, the burrow systems at the arid site being longer and more linear …