Science Saturday - Gynandromorphs

What in the world is a gynandromorph? It's essentially any organism born with both male and female physical characteristics. Gynandromorphic creatures can sometimes be very easily spotted in species with sexual dimorphism (when the males look very different from the females) because they will literally be half male and half female, split down the middle (which is called bilateral asymmetry). There are also mosaic gynandromorphs, but their male and female characteristics aren't as easily identified.  Here are some great examples of bilateral asymmetric gynandromorphs.

This chicken's left half is male, while the smaller brown right half is female. Only about 1 in 10,000 chickens are born as gynandromorphs. Turns out, these chickens are born from an egg fertilized with two sperm. Other bird species like pigeons, finches and parrots have also been documented as having gynandromorphic specimens.

 

 

The insect world is another place where dynandromorphic creatures have been found. Butterflies often display sexual dimorphism and so their dynandrophorphs are most easily spotted.

The following example of a gynandromorph is my most favourite yet, and the one that got me started on the subject. I actually didn't believe it was real at first, thinking it must have been photoshopped somehow. But since the photo was posted by a reputable tarantula breeder I've dealt with for several years now, I knew it was no hoax.

So there you have it folks! Gynandromorphs, the amazing result of weird cellular activity. Hopefully all the pretty butterflies make up for the spider at the end haha... I hope you all have a groovy rest of the weekend. Cheers!