Mammals · Dasyuromorphia · Dasyuridae

Brown Antechinus

Antechinus stuartii

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The brown antechinus is a small carnivorous marsupial of eastern Australia, the size of a mouse but with the dentition of a predator. It hunts invertebrates and the occasional small vertebrate on the ground and among fallen logs. It is famous for its extreme reproductive strategy: the entire male population dies a few weeks after a single mating season, a phenomenon of such precise synchrony that the species is a model in the biology of ageing.

Weight

17 g – 71 g

Size

9 cm – 13 cm

Lifespan

5 years

Diet

Insectivore

Feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

Temperate forestInsectivore Nocturnal Solitary Temperate forest Mammal

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Fun facts

Every male in the population dies after a single mating season: for two or three weeks they mate almost without stopping, up to twelve hours at a time, and the surge of cortisol collapses their immune system. Not one reaches a year old.
The synchrony is astonishing: the rut is triggered on the same dates every year, tuned to day length, and within days an entire population is left without males.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Wet sclerophyll forest and temperate rainforest with fallen logs, in eastern Australia
Sexual maturity: 9.4 months
Gestation / incubation: 30 days
Litter / clutch size: 7

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antechinus_stuartii