Newly discovered marsupials engage in ‘suicidal sex’
The new species are types of antechinus, a bristly haired, mouse-like marsupial that eats meaty meals such as spiders and insects. Every year, antechinus males fight each other tooth and claw so they can have sex with as many females as possible before dying.
After sex is complete, with some sprees lasting as long as 14 hours, stress hormones in males skyrocket, causing their immune systems to collapse, “and they all drop dead before the females give birth to a single baby,” lead study author Andrew Baker, a mammalogist at the Queensland University of Technology’s Science and Engineering department, said in a statement.
