WIRED Science: Space, Health, Biotech, and More

This Marsupial Dies After Marathon Mating. Now It's Got Bigger Worries

WIRED Science: Space, Health, Biotech, and More

What if I told you that in Australia, a mouse-like marsupial called antechinus breeds so manically during its three-week mating season that the males bleed internally and go blind, until every male lies dead? And what if I told you that this isn’t the reason the species is facing an existential threat? Reporting today in the journal Frontiers in Physiology, biologists from University of New England in Australia and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology present troubling evidence that antechinus might be ill-prepared for a warmer world. The researchers set out to...

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