Suicidal reproduction

a-condor(62)

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Biologists know it with the term Semelparity meaning "once to beget" in other words, reproduction occur only once in a lifetime.

In animals, sex is the basis of reproduction. Sex may be fun and all but, everything seems to follow the principle of "live to mate another day". However, there are few species in the animal kingdom that don't "live to mate another day". They reproduce at the expense of their lives.

The common thing among these particular species is that they only mate or breed once. They may die ---

while mating,
immediately after mating (as in sexual cannibalism),
few days or few months after mating for the survival of their offsprings.

Animals that exhibit suicidal reproduction

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Praying Mantis
The females are usually larger than the males in sizes. After mating, sexual cannibalism occurs. The female kills and devour the male after sex using him as a transient source of livelihood for herself and the 'unborn' offspring. The head is usually bitten of first.

Australain Redback Spider(also Australian Black Widow)
The fate of the male is same as that of the praying mantis. While some males willingly sacrifice themselves, some males tend to escape if the mate is a much younger and smaller female.

Giant Pacific Octopus
These species of octopus are normally cannibals. One may think of the other as a mate while the other think of meal. Even if both are considered as mates, after mating, the next thing on their mind is, "this is a meal" and one of them ends up dying.

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Antechinus
Mating may be quite painful and tiring but not lethal. Antechius males mate frantically. During mating season, the males can mate for about 14 hours a day with many females for about 1 to 3 weeks. Of course this is very extreme. This rapidly deplete their limited supply of sperm, take a toll on their bodies tissue and breakdown immune system. They die in a horrible way bleeding internally, losing their fur, and some can develop ulcerations and gangrene.

Marsupials of Dasyurid and Didelphid species
The males in these species are similar to those of the Antechinus.
During mating season, male animals are usually known to prove dominance and compete by fighting over a female(s) or monopolizing her(them).
Instead, the males compete with their sperms as different males can mate with a female in a mating season. So, those with the highest or best sperm count win. They can take on females for about 10 hours at a time and of course, they suffer the same fate as that of Antechius males.

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Deep sea Octopus
These species of animals die to their motherly care for their offsprings. After mating, the males leaves the female or better still, gets eaten by the female. After mating and laying her eggs(about 200,000), she protects them until they hatch (for as long as her body can take) without any source of nutrients then she dies.