Half-male, half-female bird has difficult life
Friday, December 26, 2014, 10:42 AM - A northern cardinal in Rock Island, Illinois has been causing quite a stir.
The unique specimen is what is known as gynandromoph—which means he displays the physical attributes of both male and female members of his species. The bird is red and colorful on his left side and has female plumage on his right side.
It was spotted a while ago but a new study shows that a team following it from 2008 to March 2010 have made incredible insights about the consequences of having this complex genetic makeup.
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Scientists realized that being half-male and half-female led to an unfulfilled life for the bird. It didn't react to other bird's calls and did not have or look for a mate. It also was never recorded singing.
On the other hand, it was antagonized by any cardinals as can be the case between two males of the species.
Incidentally, the previous time a gynandromorphic cardinal was spotted it had the opposite plumage: male on the right side and female on the left.
Gynandro-what?
A gynandromorph is an organism that displays male and female characteristic. It involves animals that display sexual dimorphism—phenotypic (visible) differences between male and female of the sames species.
Sometimes the differences consist of ornamentation and coloration. Other times they can be size differences. In the case of some fish, sometimes males develop an antimicrobial organism.
Humans shown a degree of sexual dimorphism, mostly focused on gonads, muscle mass, height and endocrine systems. In the case of humans, hermaphrodites are a more common ocurrence. While they are also genetically male and female, they tend to have the outward appearance of one or the other. Gynandromorphs don't happen in humans because sex-determination is more complex in higher organisms.
Courtesy of Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh
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