NESC 3180 Lecture Notes - Quoll, Phascogale, Leptin
23 Nov 2012
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When female going through pregnancy, she actually involutes or destroys part of her immune system so she can use that energy to maintain young she is incubating in her body. Animals more likely to sacrifice immune system if they have short lifespans and few breeding seasons: beneficial because it doesn"t live long anyway. But animals with long lifespans, they will not sacrifice their immune system nearly as much. But as animals age and approach end of life, you"re much more likely to see these negative trade offs. Red tailed phascogale: small animal, males only live 1 year, females live 3 years, males live shorter because they have very intense breeding season. Testosterone and corticosterone levels go through the roof. Dasyurus maculatus: bigger animal, longer lifespan, males have several year lifespan, doesn"t make as much sense to invest as little in immune function, need immunity to resist disease over longer life.
