• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

ScienceShot: Why Some Male Marsupials Die for Sex

JacksinPA

Supporting Member
DP Veteran
Monthly Donator
Joined
Dec 3, 2017
Messages
26,290
Reaction score
16,771
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Progressive

For males belonging to some species of the Dasyuridae family of marsupials, sex is a fatal, frenzied final act. After intercourse, the immune systems of these palm-sized, mouselike creatures collapse and they die soon afterward. Scientists have long argued about the reason for this sexual suicide, which is unique among mammals. Is it an act of altruism, so that males will not compete with their offspring for food? Or is it the result of dangerous genetic mutations triggered after breeding? Neither, according to a new study. By comparing 52 different species of Dasyuridae from diverse habitats across Australia, New Guinea, and South America, a team has found that frantic competition for choosy females appears to be the culprit. At higher latitudes, insects are abundant only for brief periods, and mating is largely timed to the availability of food. For some species, this means that the entire breeding period can be as short as a few days per year. Females mate promiscuously, forcing males to compete even more fiercely. For males determined to get their genes into the next generation, reckless sexual abandon appears to provide the best chance at fatherhood, even if they die in the process, the researchers say. Just how reckless? Compared with a roughly 4-hour average copulation time among species with longer, more laid-back breeding seasons, Dasyuridae males spend an average of 9 hours in the act before collapsing from exhaustion, the authors report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To sustain such a feat, evolution has endowed these doomed males with a gift: larger-than-average testicles.
=============================================================
Balls said the Queen. If I had a pair I'd be King.


Praise the lord & pass the KY. We can always dream.
 
Yikes. That's kinda sad. :(
 

For males belonging to some species of the Dasyuridae family of marsupials, sex is a fatal, frenzied final act. After intercourse, the immune systems of these palm-sized, mouselike creatures collapse and they die soon afterward. Scientists have long argued about the reason for this sexual suicide, which is unique among mammals. Is it an act of altruism, so that males will not compete with their offspring for food? Or is it the result of dangerous genetic mutations triggered after breeding? Neither, according to a new study. By comparing 52 different species of Dasyuridae from diverse habitats across Australia, New Guinea, and South America, a team has found that frantic competition for choosy females appears to be the culprit. At higher latitudes, insects are abundant only for brief periods, and mating is largely timed to the availability of food. For some species, this means that the entire breeding period can be as short as a few days per year. Females mate promiscuously, forcing males to compete even more fiercely. For males determined to get their genes into the next generation, reckless sexual abandon appears to provide the best chance at fatherhood, even if they die in the process, the researchers say. Just how reckless? Compared with a roughly 4-hour average copulation time among species with longer, more laid-back breeding seasons, Dasyuridae males spend an average of 9 hours in the act before collapsing from exhaustion, the authors report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To sustain such a feat, evolution has endowed these doomed males with a gift: larger-than-average testicles.
=============================================================
Balls said the Queen. If I had a pair I'd be King.


Praise the lord & pass the KY. We can always dream.

Some male humans might be willing to do the same.
 
Some male humans might be willing to do the same.

Ehhhh, in societies where sex is an element of religious repression, but in this country most of us just like to "practice" at it, but we don't actually intend to die 🤣
That said, if I could choose "how to go across the Rainbow Bridge", collapsing in blissful exhaustion with my delightful wife sounds like a win, although for her it would be...wait, let me ask her,
she might think it's a win too 😆😆😆 <<<----- sarcasm
 
Back
Top Bottom