Northern Quoll: All sex, no sleep may be killing endangered animal
An endangered Australian animal is giving up sleep in favour of having more sex – and it could be killing them. ALL THE DETAILS
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Endangered male northern quolls are favouring sex over sleep and it may be killing them, according to a new study.
The male quolls generally survive only one breeding season, mating themselves to death, while their female counterparts can live and produce for up to four years.
In an effort to find out why, University of the Sunshine Coast researchers fitted backpacks with trackers on wild roaming male and female northern quolls on Groote Eylandt, off the Northern Territory coast.
UniSC senior lecturer in animal ecophysiology Dr Christofer Clemente said the males were found to cover large distances to mate, forgoing sleep because their drive to find a female was so strong.
“Something is definitely causing their health to fail after just one season and we think it is linked to sleep deprivation,” he said.
“The dangers of a lack of sleep are well documented in rodents, and many of the traits associated with sleep deprivation we see in male quolls, and not in females.”
The study’s findings, published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, said the male quolls lost weight, became aggressive and appeared reckless when it came to their survival.
They could then become easy prey, be unable to avoid vehicle collisions, or simply die from exhaustion.
Two males, who were named Moimoi and Cayless, moved for 10.4km and 9.4km in one night, the human equivalent of 35-40km.
They also had a notable increase in parasites on their bodies, suggesting they devoted less time to grooming while on the move.
Lead author UniSC PhD candidate Joshua Gaschk said behaviours, activity budgets and distances travelled were tracked to determine a possible unexplored aspect of physiology that caused the male’s sex-induced death.
“Instead, we found that male and female quoll behaviour differed significantly in many ways.”
“Sleep deprivation, and associated symptoms for a prolonged duration would make recuperation impossible and could explain the causes of death recorded in the males after breeding season,” Mr Gaschk said.
The researchers said the data highlighted the need for further studies of sleep deprivation on Australian marsupials known to invest energy into just one breeding season, a strategy known as Semelparity.
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