High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Tachyoryctes rex, also known as the King African Mole Rat or Alpine Mole Rat, is a burrowing rodent in the genus Tachyoryctes of family Spalacidae. It only occurs high on Mount Kenya, where it is common. Originally described as a separate species related to T. audax in 1910, some classify it as the same species as T. splendens.