The blokes of Australia’s antechinus population have a serious sex addiction.

For two to three weeks, the male marsupials go berserk on testosterone and sleep with any female they can find for up to 14 hours at a time.

And then they all die, presumably with smiles on their whiskery dials.

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Dr Baker wants three species of the marsupial listed as ‘threatened’.

“Ultimately, the testosterone triggers a malfunction in the stress hormone shut-off switch,” said Queensland University of Technology (QUT) biologist Dr Andrew Baker.

“The resulting rise in stress hormones causes the males’ immune systems to collapse and they all drop dead before the females give birth to a single baby.”

The yearly “suicide mission” halves the marsupial population, meaning the mothers have enough food to raise their young.

“The future of each species is entrusted to the mothers alone,” Dr Baker said.

In the past three years, five new species of these sexually suicidal shrew-like critters have been recently discovered, bringing the total number to 15.

Sadly, three of the newly-discovered species are endangered as a result of climate change, feral pests and habitat loss, Dr Baker said.

“Millions of native mammals likely fall victim every night to feral cats alone. Other introduced ferals, such as European foxes and poisonous cane toads, account for the deaths of millions more,” he said.

“These threats, together with global warming, fires and habitat loss, may cause local population extinctions of our unique mammals almost weekly.”

Dr Baker’s team has called for the three threatened species of the antechinus genus to be added to the national list of threatened species to prevent their extinction.