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Rare 'half-male, half-female' cardinal photographed in Pennsylvania

bbc.com

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Re: Rare 'half-male, half-female' cardinal photographed in Pennsylvania

#71

Post by Cthulhu_ »

NDizzle wrote: post #53

There were two giant northern cardinals "playing" (who knows) in my front yard yesterday morning. This was right after the snow started melting, so their bright red coloring really stood out. Maybe it's me getting old, but it's nice to see things like that every now and then.

Having some activity in your back yard is definitely worth it, and there's so many people that don't have that because they (have to) live somewhere that's densely urbanized.

I had a very bland back yard (green ivies as walls, some other evergreen ground covering), but my girlfriend moved in two years ago and she's a gardener. We've got a diversity of plants now, the soil is alive again, and there's a popular bird feeder, regularly refilled, hanging on the shed now. We sometimes get a dozen birds flitting about there, who then get interrupted by a pair of magpies.

But, this whole neighbourhood I live in (very middle class, I'm at the outer edge) has been designed to allow for nature, with lots of semi-wild green spaces dotted around and lots of waterways.

Re: Rare 'half-male, half-female' cardinal photographed in Pennsylvania

#72

Post by mprovost »

pottertheotter wrote: post #64
Fellshard wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having grown up in an area without cardinals, I'm delighted to now live somewhere that has a few of them about in winter. There's a mated pair that keep pretty close together around our house, and they're a delight to watch together.

I grew up in Silicon Valley and had never seen a cardinal in the wild until a couple years ago. Currently in the Midwest and see them in my yard and I love them. My home office has a bay window and there is a bush that backs up to part of it, so I can look into the bush. The cardinals love to go in it and I can watch them from my desk. It really is a delight. I also love goldfinches. I had a bird feeder that only the…

I always assumed that they lived in Silicon Valley because the sports teams from Stanford are called "Cardinal". But I just looked it up and they're named after the colour, not the bird.

Re: Rare 'half-male, half-female' cardinal photographed in Pennsylvania

#74

Post by jzer0cool »

Anyone during childhood have to study a particular state? I was given Pennsylvania in grade school. Basically a poster everyone does about state birds, flowers.

All I remember about this poster which I had forgotten about until now is the state bird, cardinal. I think it is also the only red bird of this size?

Re: Rare 'half-male, half-female' cardinal photographed in Pennsylvania

#76

Post by swebs »

aspaceman wrote: post #56
derefr wrote: post #39

So, in what other species can "bilateral gynandromorphism" occur? I'm not having much success googling this. Also, is this just a specific type of genetic mosaicism? I've heard of humans with mosaic DNA (sometimes showing up as patches of alternative skin/hair coloration, etc.); but for some reason I've never heard of humans with mosaic DNA of two different chromosomal sexes.

You might find more luck with the term “intersex” or in more historical sources, hermaphroditism. From the wiki for mosaic DNA: > In rare cases, intersex conditions can be caused by mosaicism where some cells in the body have XX and others XY chromosomes (46, XX/XY).[12][13] In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, where a fly possessing two X chromosomes is a female and a fly possessing a single X chromosome is a s…

>You might find more luck with the term “intersex” or in more historical sources, hermaphroditism.

Not exactly. Intersex only refers to hermaphroditism in humans, mainly for political reasons. In all other species, its still called hermaphroditism.

Re: Rare 'half-male, half-female' cardinal photographed in Pennsylvania

#77

Post by pseudalopex »

swebs wrote: post #76
aspaceman wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might find more luck with the term “intersex” or in more historical sources, hermaphroditism. From the wiki for mosaic DNA: > In rare cases, intersex conditions can be caused by mosaicism where some cells in the body have XX and others XY chromosomes (46, XX/XY).[12][13] In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, where a fly possessing two X chromosomes is a female and a fly possessing a single X chromosome is a s…

>You might find more luck with the term “intersex” or in more historical sources, hermaphroditism. Not exactly. Intersex only refers to hermaphroditism in humans, mainly for political reasons. In all other species, its still called hermaphroditism.

Intersex includes conditions hermaphroditism doesn't.

Re: Rare 'half-male, half-female' cardinal photographed in Pennsylvania

#79

Post by auganov »

derefr wrote: post #39

So, in what other species can "bilateral gynandromorphism" occur? I'm not having much success googling this. Also, is this just a specific type of genetic mosaicism? I've heard of humans with mosaic DNA (sometimes showing up as patches of alternative skin/hair coloration, etc.); but for some reason I've never heard of humans with mosaic DNA of two different chromosomal sexes.

AFAIK gynandromorphism doesn't happen in mammals because sexual development is more centralized. Half of your body could have cells of a different sex but it wouldn't matter because organs responsible for sexual development will still effectively turn out one way. In other species each side of the body will develop quite differently because different cells is all it takes.

Tons of different human mosaics have been observed but it usually doesn't cause anything interesting.

Having different hair would imply chimerism - having two different sets of DNA. With mosaicism you start from one set of DNA but it may not duplicate the usual way.

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