Data suggests male northern quolls rest less than females and spend much more time on the move, leading to their death after a single breeding season
Male northern quolls seem to sacrifice sleep in favour of having sex, behaviour that might be responsible for their early deaths, suggests new research into the endangered marsupials.
Tracking the activity of the carnivorous marsupials on Groote Eylandt, off the Northern Territory coast, the researchers found a lack of rest during the breeding season may contribute to the mass yearly die-off of males.Northern quolls, which are endangered on the Australian mainland, are the largest mammals known to exhibit semelparity, a breeding strategy in which an organism dies after it reproduces for the first time. Males can weigh up to 600g, and grow to the size of a small domestic cat.
Their study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, found that male quolls rested for only about 8% of the time, while females spent three times as long resting. The team retrieved data from seven males and six females. “The males are investing all this energy into … looking for the females, because that’s how they maximise their reproductive outputBut they’re just not resting in between,” said Dr Christofer Clemente, study co-author and a senior lecturer in animal ecophysiology at USC.
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