Male marsupial mice are killed by the mating season (9 photos)

First mating season for most male marsupials becomes the last. The reason is that they give themselves to the process without remainder.





First love is a real pain. Hormones tear you to shreds, emotions jump in crazy amplitude from happiness to depression, insomnia torments every night. But even that is nothing compared to the how marsupial mice experience passion. Their males die in the name love in the first mating season!

Let's start this tragic story from afar. Already by name you can guess that our hyper-emotional friends live somewhere in an inverted continent. Total marsupials mice more than 15 species, some of them live not only in Australia, but also in Tasmania, New Guinea and neighboring islands.



However, the person who called the animal a marsupial mouse clearly pulled an owl on a globe. First, to rodents these creatures have nothing to do with the Old World. But this can be forgiven - outwardly marsupial mice and our Norushki are really similar.





But why call a mouse a marsupial if it has bags No? Instead of a full-fledged abdominal accessory, the animal has just a crease covering the nipples. If all animals with folds on the belly are considered marsupials, then they will be half human population!



Okay, at least the animal lifestyle fits in. in mouse canons. Marsupial mice registered in Australian forests. There they live on all tiers: from the litter to the crown. Wherever you go on an empty stomach. To fill it, mice drag everything they find into their mouths: seeds, fruits, insects, nectar from flowers and even carrion - there is nothing to be picky about when you are a tiny animal that lives on the deadliest continent.



But not predators destroy half of the population of mice. Their mating season kills them. Although I would call it marriage suicide. The root of the problem lies in its rarity. For such a small marsupial mice think about offspring unbearably rarely - only once a year. For comparison: regular mice bear fruit every 2 months.



Some marsupial mice have a thick tail. Fat serves as a reserve of nutrients in case of famine.

All this time, male hormones are piling up, piling up, piling up. Until the balls start to go behind the rollers. Guys are blown away. Travelers from August to September from love, males in desperate madness are looking for a female and fight for the right to continue their race. Having won the young lady, the male mates with her from 6 to 12 hours, not forgetting to fight off other suitors.



Wild marathon quickly exhausts mice to the state of living corpses: they lose their hair, suffer from internal bleeding, and the immune system simply fails. imminent death is all that awaits a successful male. But why is this madness? Why commit suicide when you can wait for the next chance? And they don’t have a next chance - if by some miracle a man survived the first mating season, he is no longer able to multiply. Well, the train has left!



Babies of marsupial mice develop for a very long time. Inside Mom they marinate for a whole month, and then sit on the neck The parent has three more. So that you understand how long: in an ordinary mouse, offspring become independent in 3 weeks!



Therefore, rare breeding makes males act for sure, because there will be no other case. Do you want to leave descendants and their genes to future generations? Die for it!