Nature often offers interesting surprises. A zoologist from the University of Otago (New Zealand) bird extremely rare, because at first glance half women, half men.
This is about a wild green honeycreeper whose body combines the plumage of the male and female of this species. It has male feathers on one side and female feathers on the other.
“Many birdwatchers can go their entire lives without seeing a bilateral gynandromorph [como es conocido este fenómeno] in any bird species. This phenomenon is extremely rare in birds; I don’t know of any examples in New Zealand. Professor Hamish Spencer, who observed the bird under the instructions of amateur ornithologist John Murillo, said in a statement: “This is very surprising, I had the privilege of seeing it.”
Images of the specimen make the discovery all the more significant, as they are “probably the finest wild bilateral gynandromorph birds of any species,” Europa Press reported.
This is the second recorded case gynandromorphism According to the article published about the discovery in question, there has been a history of this type for more than 100 years. Journal of Field Ornithology.
Due to an error that occurs during cell division
Professor Spencer says gynandromorphs – animals with both male and female characteristics in a species that normally has separate sexes – are important to our understanding of sex determination and sexual behavior in birds.
The main groups in which this phenomenon has been recorded include animal species that exert a strong influence. sexual dimorphism; mostly insects, especially butterflies, crustaceans, spiders and even lizards and rodents. However, it is rare in birds.
“This particular example of bilateral gynandromorphy (male on one side, female on the other) shows that both sides of the bird can be male or female, as in many other species. This phenomenon is caused by an error during female cell division to produce eggs. then comes the double fertilization of two sperm,” he explains.
………….
Contact address of the environmental department:[email protected]