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Rare bird/ Half female, half male

2023-12-30 08:46:00, Kuriozitete CNA

Rare bird/ Half female, half male

What a rare discovery! This bird (chlorophanes spiza) has the right half of the body male and the left half female.

This bird primarily feeds on fruit and is widespread from southern Mexico to southern Brazil. It reaches 13 to 14 centimeters. The male bird has green to blue feathers, the female bird has grass green feathers.

It is the first time that such a gynandromorphic bird has been observed in its natural habitat. Such gynandromorphism is created when an ovum (egg) does not divide well and is fertilized by two sperm. This rare phenomenon has also been found in canaries, crabs, butterflies and other insects.

It was observed in sandpipers 100 years ago, but until now it had not been observed in birds in the wild. And the bird 100 years ago had the colors reversed, the right was female and the left was male.

Perfect luck of the amateur ornithologist

The rare bisexual bird was discovered in Villamaria, Colombia by amateur ornithologist John Murillo. Morillo told New Zealand ornithologist Hamish Spencer, from the University of Otago, who was also in Colombia on holiday, about his discovery.

"This phenomenon is very rare in birds. Many bird watchers never come across a gynandromorphic bird in their life," explains Hamish Spencer for the scientific journal "Journal of Field Ornithology".

Fortunately, amateur ornithologist John Murillo had set up a feeder bird nursery, which the rare hermaphrodite bird regularly attended for two consecutive years. From October 2021 to June 2023, the bisected slipper appeared regularly for four to six consecutive weeks at the bird nursery, then disappeared again for about eight weeks.

A rare but rare bird

The rare bird behaved atypically at the aviary, but apparently this bisexual slipper is unusual for other birds of its species because it continues to live in isolation. 

"The gynandromorph bird waited for the other shrike birds to leave the aviary, then he came in to eat. Generally he avoided the other birds of his kind, but the other birds also avoided him. Therefore it is impossible, for this individual to find a chance to reproduce."/ DW





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