Call: Patagonian mara (Dolichotis patagonum
Where it lives: Arid meadows and brush lands in main and southern Argentina
What it consumes: Grasses, cacti, seeds, fruits, flowers and its own dung
Why it’s remarkable: Patagonian maras mate for life, and males are increasingly protective of their partners, following them anywhere they go to protect them from other males and from predators.
In spite of their long-lasting bond, mara sets show essentially no physical contact apart from that seen throughout sex or when they’re gathering together when it’s cold.
Males sometimes smell their partner’s genital areas, to which the woman “normally reacts by quickly providing her rump towards the male’s face and releasing a jet of urine,” according to a 1974 research study.
Males likewise pee on their partners, all the while rubbing their anal glands and feces on the ground that the female formerly inhabited, to prevent competing males. A male will “stand on his hind legs and task an effective jet of urine forwards onto the rump of the woman, and she right away reacts by producing a jet of urine in reverse onto the male’s face,” scientists composed in the research study.
Get the world’s most interesting discoveries provided directly to your inbox.
Related: Tufted ground squirrel: The Borneo rodent as soon as thought to disembowel deer and delight in their organs
Patagonian maras– which grow to simply under 30 inches (76 centimeters) in length– likewise have a distinct breeding method, which includes raising their young in common dens shared by as much as 22 sets. Women are just sexually responsive 3 to 4 times a year throughout a 30-minute window called estrus, which might describe why the types is monogamous.
Is that a huge bunny? Nope, it’s the Patagonian mara! Weighing ~ 35 pounds (15.9 kg), this long-legged rodent can outrun an Olympic sprinter– reaching speeds of ~ 45 mi (72 km) per hour! It lives in open meadows where it hangs around indulging in the Sun and foraging for food. pic.twitter.com/pkZjSo911eJune 6, 2023
See more
Estrus in Patagonian maras is so brief that a male attempting to mate with a number of women would have a hard time to strike while they were hot. Monogamy, on the other hand, assists guarantee effective breeding by keeping bonded members of a set close together.
The bond in between a Patagonian mara couple is so strong that they can have a hard time to discover a brand-new mate if among them passes away, according to a 1987 PhD thesis, which recorded a male “still alone” 6 weeks after his mate passed away, “in spite of the truth that there were numerous single women offered.”
