Australia's rarest mammal, the endangered marsupial, the silver-headed antechinus (Antechinus argentus), did not die out, as zoologists feared, and even survived megafires. To such a joyful discovery, scientists at the Queensland University of Technology Park came during their summer field work. They managed to find 21 Antechinus argentus animals in the Bulburin National Park, where more than 3,000 hectares of tropical rainforest were burned in 2019.
"[The antechinus] are endangered so we were quite worried about them when fires burned up to a third of their habitat in the park," Dr Baker said.
The species was only described to science in 2013 and was named on a priority list of 20 mammals requiring urgent attention following the 2019–2020 megafires.
These amazing marsupials are famous for their violent and deadly mating habits. Mating can last from 20 minutes to 10 hours or more without interruption, and at the end of the breeding season, all males fall dead from exhaustion and a deadly chemical cocktail spilling into their bodies. This is caused by non-stop testosterone production, according to Dr. Baker, a leading expert on these animals. The high level of testosterone in the huge testicles prevents the production of the stress hormone cortisol from shutting down, which, accumulating in large quantities, simply poisons the male's body.
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