Anyone interested in the extraordinary sex life of antechinuses?
By Birding-Aus, on October 10th, 2013
I found this interesting item about the reproductive strategy of antechinuses on my daily news digest “The Shortlist Daily” – it is from National Geographic. Birdwatchers are quite likely to come across antechinuses in the field and may be interested in this piece (Ctrl+Click on the red text below). Richard NOWOTNY Port Melbourne, Victoria M: 0438 224 456 Why a little mammal has so much sex that it disintegrates “He mates with as many females as he can, in violent, frenetic encounters that can each last up to 14 hours. He does little else. A month ago, he irreversibly stopped making sperm, so he’s got all that he will ever have. This burst of speed-mating 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.” – National Geographic =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi Richard I mentioned some of this in my book “Fauna of Kakadu and the Top End” (1993) under dasyurids, eg the “frenzied mating”. You’re not the only one interested in such subjects. I once guided two American women whose main interest was to see the reproductive organs of a female marsupial. One was curator of primates at the San Francisco zoo (if I remember correctly) and her sister was a biology teacher. We spent a happy few hours dissecting an antilopine wallaroo on the side of the road. The University of NSW has been using “Fauna” as a “core text” for their summer school for thirteen years (we’re now preparing a second edition). I doubt whether the sex is the main selling point but I’m sure at least some of the students have been fascinated in the details. Interest in the sex life of animals is a reason why I included a section on bird sex in “Birds of Australia’s Top End”. If anyone has ever been up close and personal to an emu phallus then they’ll realise a little of what I put my family through in producing this book – I’m sure my son lost a few girlfriends. Paul Horner, past curator of vertebrates at the NT Museum nearly choked while preparing the phallus for preservation, and it wasn’t the formalin. regards Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71, Darwin River, NT 0841 043 8650 835 On 10/10/13 12:09 AM, “Richard Nowotny” < richard.nowotny@bigpond.com> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
That is why all male Antechinuse and Phascogale have the nickname of “Shagger”. They just can’t resist the hormones. Carl Clifford On 10/10/2013, at 1:39, “Richard Nowotny” < richard.nowotny@bigpond.com> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================