#Transsexual Aussie birds: Scientists discover #SexReversal in kookaburras and lorikeets https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/14/sex-reversal-australian-birds-kookaburras-lorikeets https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/14/sex-reversal-australian-birds-kookaburras-lorikeets?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-3
They don’t have to go & get certified, documented or change their sex status on any forms! 😝
> Unlike mammals whose sex chromosomes are XX in females and XY in males, female birds have WZ sex chromosomes and males have ZZ. This means that female birds have all the equipment they need to be female but if something suppresses the “W,” they are left with only “Z” and express as male. (Males cannot become female because they have no “W” at all.)Female ducks are born with two ovaries but only one develops. The left ovary actively pumps out hormones to stifle the male genes, making the bird truly female. If a disease damages the only ovary and [they] stop producing hormones the female duck spontaneously turns into a male. Experiments have shown that the now-male duck is able to breed and fertilize eggs.
https://www.reddit.com/r/birding/comments/1aspye0/encountered_an_intersex_mallard_then_learned_more
SydneyJim
ivy is birdposting Ⓥ