Differential mortatlity of Antechinus stuartii (Macleay) : nitrogen balance and somatic changes

Abstract

The female marsupial mouse, A. stuartii, is able to live and breed for up to three times as long as the male. At the end of the mating period, at about 11.5 months of age, all male Antechinus become reproductively senescent and, in the field, die. In the laboratory death after the breeding season is not inevitable. Postreproductive males were found to be in poor condition (decreased body weight and some loss of fur), lethargic, polyphagous, and in markedly negative nitrogen balance: females of the same age showed none of these changes.