holly hop
Antechinus on the fence
'Marsupial mouse', spotted this rare little fellow, couldn't get a step closer, HFF
Antechinus mating season is his one chance to pass his genes on to the next generation, and he will die trying. He exhausts himself so thoroughly that his body starts to fall apart. His blood courses with testosterone and stress hormones. His fur falls off. He bleeds internally. His immune system fails to fight off incoming infections, and he becomes riddled with gangrene.
He’s a complete mess, but he’s still after sex. “By the end of the mating season, physically disintegrating males may run around frantically searching for last mating opportunities,” says Diana Fisher from the University of Queensland. “By that time, females are, not surprisingly, avoiding them.”
Soon, it’s all over. A few weeks shy of his first birthday, he is dead, along with every other male antechinus in the area.
phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/07/why-a-little-...
Antechinus on the fence
'Marsupial mouse', spotted this rare little fellow, couldn't get a step closer, HFF
Antechinus mating season is his one chance to pass his genes on to the next generation, and he will die trying. He exhausts himself so thoroughly that his body starts to fall apart. His blood courses with testosterone and stress hormones. His fur falls off. He bleeds internally. His immune system fails to fight off incoming infections, and he becomes riddled with gangrene.
He’s a complete mess, but he’s still after sex. “By the end of the mating season, physically disintegrating males may run around frantically searching for last mating opportunities,” says Diana Fisher from the University of Queensland. “By that time, females are, not surprisingly, avoiding them.”
Soon, it’s all over. A few weeks shy of his first birthday, he is dead, along with every other male antechinus in the area.
phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/07/why-a-little-...