With just weeks to live, these marsupials prioritize sex over sleep

If you only had 3 weeks left to live, what would you do? For a fuzzy little Australian marsupial, the answer is clear: Have as much sex as possible—even at the cost of sleep. During the single mating season that caps off the brief life span of a male antechinus (pictured above), these animals forgo shuteye to carve out more time for lovemaking , researchers report today in Current Biology . The work starkly illustrates “the trade-offs animals have to make between sleeping and doing something more directly related to survival [of the species],” says Paul-Antoine Libourel, an ecophysiologist at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center who was not involved in the study. For nearly every animal, sleep is a necessity. In humans, its deprivation can reduce memory and motor control, mimicking the effects of intoxication, says John Lesku, a sleep scientist at La Trobe University and senior author of the new study. But in certain circumstances, some species can cut back on their slumber. In 2012, Lesku found that male pectoral sandpipers stay awake for up to 95% of their 3-week mating season . Such restlessness pays off: Those who sleep less tend to father more baby birds. A few years after publishing that study, Lesku learned about the antechinus, an elusive marsupial slightly smaller than a rat. Males conclude their yearlong life span with a 3-week mating frenzy before dying, leaving the females to raise the young. The males’ tiny...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research