Thanks to Ali for the link. As I have pointed out, science has proven that sex is a spectrum / sliding scale from mostly male to mostly female chemical make up of a being. There is not one simple fixed point at which a person is male or female because biological sex is not binary. Yes it is hard for some people to grasp because for centuries the idea was if it dangles it is male and if not it is female, and if it dangles only a little because it is too short then cut it off so you can raise it as female. Again proven not to work. So what do we mean by male or female is a spectrum? Well because it is a spectrum or sliding scale a person can have a little or a lot of the chemical mix of DNA, chromosomes, enzymes, switches, and other things only scientist can understand or pronounce to look like one side of the slider but inside be all over the slider to the other side of it. The article is about birds, but the article makes it clear this same thing has been found in a lot of other animal species. And guess what? Humans are just another animal species. Hugs. Scottie
The bilaterally gynandromorphic green honeycreeper. Credit: John Murillo
A zoologist from New Zealand has spotted an extremely rare half female, half male bird while on holiday in Colombia.
The wild green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) has distinct green female plumage on its left and blue male plumage on its right.
This rare specimen is an example of bilateral gynandromorphy – a condition in which one side of an organism has male characteristics, and the other female.
“Many birdwatchers could go their whole lives and not see a bilateral gynandromorph in any species of bird. The phenomenon is extremely rare in birds, I know of no examples from New Zealand ever,” says Professor Hamish Spencer of the University of Otago, New Zealand.
***Video at link above, I am unable to post it here on WordPress***
Play Video
Short video of a bilaterally gynandromorphic Green Honeycreeper near Manizales, Colombia, 20 May 2022. Credit: John Murillo
Spencer was holidaying in Colombia when amateur ornithologist, John Murillo, pointed out the uncommon colouration.
“It is very striking; I was very privileged to see it,” Spencer says.
The finding, which is documented in a report in the Journal of Field Ornithology, is the 2nd example of gynandromorphism in this species in more than 100 years, and the 1st of a living bird.
The bilaterally gynandromorphic green honeycreeper. Credit: John Murillo
According to Spencer, the photographs of the bird are “arguably the best of a wild bilateral gynandromorphic bird of any species ever”.
Gynandromorphism occurs in a large number of groups of animals but is most often reported in species which display strong sexual dimorphism, including insects (especially butterflies), crustaceans, spiders, lizards, snakes and rodents.
Sexes of the same sexually dimorphic species display different physical characteristics. This makes it easier to distinguish gynandromorphism, where one side of the animal looks very distinct from the other.
The bilaterally gynandromorphic green honeycreeper. Credit: John Murillo
“This particular example of bilateral gynandromorphy – male one side and female the other – shows that, as in several other species, either side of the bird can be male or female,” says Spencer.
“The phenomenon arises from an error during female cell division to produce an egg, followed by double-fertilisation by two sperm.”
This error causes the egg cell to have two nucleuses: one with a Z chromosome and the other with a W chromosome. These are the sex chromosomes in birds, whereas in humans they are X and Y.
The bilaterally gynandromorphic green honeycreeper. Credit: John Murillo
Then, each of the two nucleuses are fertilised by a separate sperm. As a result, one side of the bird has female cells (ZW chromosomes) and the other has male cells (ZZ chromosomes).
The researchers observed the bird between October 2021 and June 2023. Its behaviour largely matched those of other green honeycreepers – except for one major difference.
“In general, it avoided others of its species, and the others also avoided it; it seems unlikely, therefore, that this individual would have had any opportunity to reproduce,” they concluded.
Since the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, extremist settlers in the West Bank have been emboldened, displacing more than 1,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations.
Like its name suggests, the brown dog tick dines on dog blood. But as temperatures rise, they’re more likely to feast on you, too. That’s a problem, because the brown dog tick is a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a disease that’s deadly to both dogs and humans.
In 2023, a whole bunch of orcas started attacking boats off the coast of Spain. Was this the first battle in an all-out interspecies war? Well, probably not. But it’s a pretty neat look into how trends come and go in orca pods – like salmon hats.
As she always does, Annie wrote a grand post. The post has a wonderful video and a great message. However the post also has a lot of great election information, and WordPress is acting weird as always so is preventing her posts from being distributed to her followers. Please head over to her blog and check out the grand post. Hugs. Scottie
I thank Tengrain for their daily servings of news, funny things, and animal videos. They put a lot of hard work and effort in to the posts. Plus the commenters are top-notch. I really recommend following the site.
Ron and I have been family to dogs and cats most of our lives. Each one has had their own personality and presence, just like humans. This is a wonderful video of ability and reasoning ability along with determination. Hugs. Scottie
How greatly the republicans in that state must hate brown people. If given half a chance, they would gleefully restart slavery. I don’t see how this is even legal. Think of where this money could be spent to help the people. Hugs
Texas is adding to its border wall to deter migrants from entering the state by constructing a barrier between itself and New Mexico.
“Texas installs fencing along NEW Mexico border. Our barriers around El Paso forced the migrants crossing illegally to enter into New Mexico. They then entered into El Paso from there. To end that, we are building a barrier on the New Mexico border,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Construction of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border has been in the works for months since Abbott committed to the project in 2021. He has continually posted videos and images of the border wall on X, but last week’s announcement revealing the construction of a wall between Texas and the neighboring state of New Mexico marks the latest step in his Operation Lone Star.
KFOX14 reported earlier this month that members of the Texas National Guard reinforced the wall between New Mexico and Texas with concertina wire — a type of barbed wire that already lines the Texas-Mexico border. Abbott said Texas had plans to build a barrier between the two states during an appearance at the Manhattan Institute last month.
“Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the placement of razor wire fencing along the Texas-New Mexico border north of the Rio Grande near Sunland Park, NM. This is the latest Operation Lone Star stunt funded by the working Texas family’s tax-dollar that will result in environmental damage, community division and injuries of vulnerable migrants,” the statement read.
“It’s clear that Governor Abbott has no plans on actually addressing our broken immigration system head on — but instead adding more fuel to Operation Lone Star’s dumpster fire,” the statement added.
I swear it was in the comments section of this blog that someone nearly had immigration called on him/her because s/he told a fellow American that s/he came from New Mexico and didn’t go through customs. It was a whole “facepalming” nightmare.
I remember a story decades ago about a man who had a huge hassle from the IRS because he wasn’t paying the right taxes. He lived in NM and they insisted he report his “out of the country” income.
I read that there is a surprising percentage of Texans that think New Mexico is part of Mexico. And an even higher percentage of non-Texans that think that. I’m not surprised on either count.
“As the Senate passed its voucher bill, Senate Bill 1, by a vote of 18-13 last night, Governor Greg Abbott gave a progress report on work with state House members to the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a right-wing think tank whose board members include billionaires Tim Dunn, Doug Deason, Stacy Hock, state Senator Mayes Middleton, and James Leninger—all who have been bankrolling the push to privatize public education in Texas.
That would explain a lot. Let the wealthy pay for their kids’ education, and leave the workforce deprived and dumb. They’re easier for the wealthy to control, that way.
We get many Texans moving to New Mexico where our laws and politics are more liberal/progressive. We call them refugees. Perhaps the new wall is to PREVENT TEXANS from leaving.
For those that do not know, Jerry / Rawgod and Jill started a blog for and about furry members of the family, pets in common terms. I have fell in love with the stories, both the births, the deaths, and the stories in between as people talk about what their non-human family members brought to them. All my life, dogs and cats have been the balm to sooth the hurts happening to me. One of my greatest fears is losing my eyesight. I read a book called “Follow My Leader” as a child, and it was about a young boy blinded who learned to deal with his sudden blindness and to work with his new companion, a seeing eye dog. The post and video at the link above is wonderful. Please go, read and watch, and support our furry non-human family members. Hugs. Scottie
Scottie's Playtime 