{"id":17235,"date":"2015-06-02T16:28:46","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T23:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=17235"},"modified":"2015-06-02T16:46:22","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T23:46:22","slug":"newly-found-marsupials-sex-to-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/newly-found-marsupials-sex-to-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly Found Marsupials Sex to Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s difficult to ignore the moral this story may have for its human counterparts:<\/p>\n

\"antechinuscrp\"<\/a>

Tasman Peninsula dusky antechinus (Antechinus vandycki) is under threat.<\/p><\/div>\n

Newly found marsupials basically sex themselves to death<\/h2>\n

\"ElaheIzadicrp\"<\/a>by Elahe Izadi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Every year, antechinus marsupials\u00a0get it on<\/a>\u00a0until the males all drop dead.<\/p>\n

Researchers classified two new species of\u00a0Dusky Antechinus<\/em>, mouse-like creatures that engage in suicidal reproduction, and\u00a0published their findings last week in the peer-reviewed journal Memoirs of the Queensland Museum — Nature<\/a>. The Mainland Dusky Antechinus, found in southeastern Australia, has been\u00a0elevated from sub-species to a distinct species. And the newly discovered\u00a0Tasman Peninsula Dusky Antechinus, found in southeastern Tasmania, already faces the threat of extinction due in part to loss of habitat and feral pests, researchers said.<\/p>\n

Their proclivity for ferocious, suicidal sex frenzies aren’t helping them any.<\/p>\n

“The breeding period is basically two to three weeks of speed-mating, with testosterone-fueled males coupling with as many females as possible, for up to 14 hours at a time,”\u00a0lead author Andrew Baker of the Queensland University of Technology said in a release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[Scientists examine why men even exist<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

All of that testosterone “triggers a malfunction in the stress hormone shut-off switch” for the males, Baker said. The males then get so stressed out that their immune systems fail, and they die before the females actually give birth.<\/p>\n

Baker said the\u00a0“yearly male suicide mission” cuts the population in half, leaving enough spiders and insects for the mothers to eat while raising the offspring.<\/p>\n