Yellow-footed antechinus (Antechinus flavipes)
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- Опубликовано: 29 май 2021
- Antechinus are not rodents - they are marsupials, and everything about them is extreme. All antechinus in a population breed at the same time - females come into oestrus at the same time, triggering a violent mating frenzy with both females and males mating with as many different individuals as possible. A fortnight later, every male is dead, overwhelmed by the stress. The competition doesn't end with successful mating though ... females store the sperm for up to two weeks, and only sperm from the strongest males is used to fertilise her eggs. When the babies are born at an embryonic stage a month later, they have many different fathers, and there are about 20% more babies born than nipples available...so the babies must compete in a duel to the death for a place. After attaching to a teat they travel slung in an open pouch and clinging on for dear life. By the time of weaning at about 100 days old, the litter weighs four times as much as the mother, who exhausts herself trying to feed her growing brood. Antechinus depend on insect population peaks coinciding with their breeding season, making them extremely vulnerable to climate change. If changes in climate and rainfall uncouples the food supply from the breeding cycle, they could become extinct in the blink of an eye. Other big threats are cats, both domestic and feral, firewood collection and 'tidying up' of under-story leaf litter and logs. Too frequent burning practices, particularly annual burns, completely removes critical habitat for under-story dwellers like antechinus. Fallen timber and hollow logs are critically important habitat for these little marsupials - please resist the temptation to clear, burn, collect for firewood or otherwise "tidy up" fallen timber and debris in bushland areas. In the wild, mess is best.
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The importance of any understorey habitat right there, with logs and wood. Great stomping ground. Wonderful of you to be sharing these vids. Love their way of moving about.
As always, thanks and cheers.
Hello Kim, they really do have a distinctive movement, don't they? It almost seems like they get around by springing from all four feet at once. Thank you for watching and for your ongoing support.
Awesome video ❤️🙏🏻❤️
Hello Summer, thank you for watching, and for your kind words of encouragement. I hope you are enjoying a marvellous week :)
This was so cute, got a little up front and personal with camera ha ha ha. Big thumbs up mate.
Hello Deborah, thank you as always for your support and encouragement. I hope you are enjoying an awesome week
Thank you. A perfect, peaceful end to the weekend in nippy, locked down Melbourne.
Hello Robyn, really feeling for you as you endure yet another lock down. We have been ridiculously lucky so far in south east QLD. Take care and stay safe - hoping the cluster gets eliminated swiftly.
Thank you. This virus is certainly interesting biologically. It seems to have won the genetic lottery. Two local students told me they thought this particular Coronavirus offers a useful lesson. Too many of their peers had preferred opinion over fact but have been stopped in their tracks by the raw power of Nature.
To have a vaccine in only 12 months is a miracle even if researchers had no time for the usual trials so that glitches have had to be addressed on the run. It’s so disappointing to hear some older locals shilly shally about vaccination. I’ve been muttering ‘natural selection’ to myself during those conversations.
Anyway, your creatures, our virus- all part of Nature. Thank you for your clips.
@@didntlistendad Agreed - anti-vaccination movements certainly weren't a thing in the 1950's when polio was having a marvellous time in the general population, and we sometimes have dark thoughts about how a decent resurgence of smallpox would sort out the anti-science brigade. With one of us on chemotherapy, we are feeling incredibly fortunate to be over 50, in a wealthy country and thus able to walk in for free vaccination. AstraZeneca? Well thank you very much, don't mind if we do... looking forward to that second dose.
@@GubanaNatureRefuge Felt sorry for staff at the local clinic trying to convince people to get vaccinated. They’d had a hard morning. I told them to do the ‘natural selection’ mutter. I heard the intake of breath- then they relaxed. The Med staff are too often the ‘adults in the room’ and it’s a burden for young shoulders (everyone looks young to me these days). Caring professions can be draining- I think that’s why Med staff need a robust sense of humour.
Yes I remember the polio situation. I had a canvas wading pool and the child next door wanted one. He swam in the open gutter with the ‘polio’ to pressure his parents. We called the green and the red plant material ‘polio’ back then.
Hope your love of animals etc is bringing you comfort at what sounds a challenging time. I’ll stick to comments about animals from now on but thought you’d excuse this little digression.
A very typical human viewpoint; dead wood is nothing but fuel or mess. When I was growing up I didn't quite understand why we were always told to leave everything exactly as we found it, and it wasn't really explained. Nowadays I understand; a walking stick might be part of a nest, and here in this video is yet another reason.
Did you place the logs yourself or is it just a random occurrence on your property?
Hello Andy L - you had a good upbringing! The "logs" are mainly long empty tubes of thick, tough bark, discarded in piles when white cypress pine from the campsite clearing was harvested by the previous owners, about 30 years ago. As the bark dried, it curled into tight tubes up to 6m long, which show no sign of decay due to the high resin content. It is an amazing resource for wildlife, akin to an apartment block.
Thanks for spreading this information, is so important to keep these habitats as untouched as possible. Thanks for your videos
Cheeky bugger flashed his scrot at us.
Hello Alan, well you know what they say - if you've got it, flaunt it ;)
Actually, no ..... on second thoughts don't do that. We non-marsupial folk can't get away with that kind of behaviour.
@@GubanaNatureRefuge Alas.
The little creatures are often taken for grant, but they are so important...and a joy to watch. Thank you!
Hello Heather, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I hope you are enjoying a marvellous week. Stay safe.
after reading the description, nature is indeed scary.
Excellent as always. What was it doing when it was 'dancing'? Is that a territorial stomp?
Hello FVM, that's a great question! They seem to do it just after coming out of their nest, so I surmise that it is a way of spreading scent - there is precious little reference to it that I can find, just vague mentions of sternal and para-cloacal scent glands. I don't ever see any fluid dispersal during the dancing, so I'm inclined to suggest that the antechinus is actually rubbing the sternal scent glands against the bark like a koala does.
What gorgeous little creatures enjoying their log home. As always thank you so much for sharing! 😊
Hello Cait, thank you for watching and for taking time to share your thoughts - it is very much appreciated :)
Too cute for words.
That was a treat
Hello Bec, thank you for watching, and for your kind words of encouragement. I hope you are enjoying a lovely day :)
Just an observation but their ears are different, would they have excellent hearing?
@@bec_r_r Hello Bec, excellent question! Their large thin crinkly ears with notches, internal folds and ridges are very different to the smooth round ears of mice, but nowhere near as big as the elongated ears of the dunnarts which share their log piles. I can't find any information about the purpose of all the crinkles and folds - but then again, apart from their intriguing sex life there isn't exactly an overload of information about the eccentricities antechinus at all..... potential PhD students take note...!
Just read description…… guess that boys gonna go out it style
Well, if mine were that big I guess I might teabag a camera too!
best moment 2:31
1:35 as well