Compared with asexual reproduction, sexual reproduction can make it advantageous for the spread of genetic mutations, while maintaining genetic diversity within the population, which is more conducive to the continuation of the population, so this mode of survival is chosen by many species, and most of the species we are currently exposed to use sexual reproduction.
Sexual reproduction means that both male and female sexes need to participate in the reproduction of offspring, and although their purpose is to reproduce, their reproductive strategies are different.
The males cast wide nets, spending a lot of time courtship, leaving the females with the task of raising offspring.
The reproductive strategy adopted by females focuses on fishing, they are very cautious about the opposite sex, only when they prefer the opposite sex, they will mate with it, and then invest a lot of energy and energy to raise offspring.
Due to different reproductive strategies, females and males of the same species retain different traits when subjected to natural selection. For example, female possums can survive for many years, while males die after mating, as if male possums live to mate.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > bag shrew</h1>
When it comes to animals that have the longest mating time, the tasmanian bandicoot may be among the best, according to studies, male tasmanian shrews will lose appetite when the mating season comes, and then will frantically look for the opposite sex, once they find the opposite sex, they can mate continuously for up to 14 hours.
But crazy mating also comes at a price, 90% of male possum ferrets do not survive 1 mating season, this is because whenever the estrus period comes, the tasmanian shrew will secrete excess testosterone, testosterone adds to their male charm at the same time, but also seriously damage their bodies, making their immune system collapse, resulting in subcutaneous bleeding, retinal detachment, fur shedding, until death.
Baker, a scientist at the Queensland University of Technology, said that the estrus period of the bag shrew generally lasts about 2-3 weeks, when the testosterone level in the male body is extremely high. However, after each mating season, the male bag shrew is almost completely extinct, leaving only females and cubs.
Scientists point out that this practice also has certain benefits, that is, it can save energy. We know that the survival of the male bag shrew is also inseparable from the support of energy, and the male bag shrew will hardly contribute to the continuation of the population after mating, but will consume a large number of local insect resources, so that the female and the cub can not catch enough food and die.
After the male bag shrew dies almost all the summer every summer, it can help the female and the cub to easily find food, thereby improving the survival rate of the cubs and better prolonging the population.
In this respect, the mechanism of death after mating of the Tasmanian bands, far from hindering the continuation of the population, is conducive to the continuation of the population, so this mechanism is preserved in their genes by chance. In other words, it is not that they are willing to mate for a long time, but that they are forced by genes to force them to do so.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > survival strategy</h1>
Since mating takes longer to weed out males and increase the survival rate of offspring, why don't other animals adopt this strategy?
This is actually because the evolution of organisms has no direction, and different organisms adopt different survival strategies. We know that 90% of birds are monogamous, that is, both husband and wife will invest energy to raise offspring, this is because the living environment of birds is very harsh, if the other person does not raise offspring together, then the species is at risk of extinction.
There are also some creatures where the status of males is very important, for example, although male lions are not involved in raising offspring, they will regularly patrol their territories to prevent other creatures from harming their cubs.
What's more, the evolution of organisms has no direction, some organisms have not evolved this gene at all, but even without this gene, the species has not gone extinct, which means that they are more adapted to the environment. For example, cattle, sheep, etc., their food is relatively rich, even if the male does not die, it will not affect the survival rate of offspring.
Moreover, for most animals, the long mating time is not an advantage, but a fatal disadvantage. For example, giraffes have a mating time of only about 1 second, which is the reason why they are surrounded by strong enemies, and when mating is when they are more vulnerable, if the mating time is too long, it will lead to them may be preyed upon by predators.
In other words, different organisms face different environments and adopt different ways of survival. Possum shrews are favorable genes that may cause their extinction for other species.