Transgendered Bird?!

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Sep 7, 2012
532
0
0
#1
From the Huffington Post:

"
Follow:

New Zealand Bellbird, Transgender Bird, Transgender Animals, Transgender Issues, Gay Animals, Gay Birds, Transgender Korimako, Gay Voices News




Cases of homosexuality and bisexuality may be common in the animal kingdom, but a number of zoologists reportedly are claiming this New Zealand discovery to be a global first.
As The Dominion Post originally reported, staff at a New Zealand-based Zealandia Eco-Canctuary have identified what they've described as a "transgender bellbird" which has plumage and characteristics of both sexes.
Roughly the size of a sparrow, bellbirds are dark olive-green with red eyes. This bellbird, however, has the white cheek stripe of a female on one side, but the dark body plumage of a male. Meanwhile, its calls have also been described as "mixed" -- it makes male calls as well as those of a female, but at a higher volume and more frequently than is typical for females.
Consequently, a number of media outlets have already dubbed the aviary wonder the "butch bellbird."
"There’s something we can’t pin down," Erin Jeneway, conservation officer at Zealandia Eco-Sanctuary, told the Post. "We haven’t seen anything like this before." Other officials have reportedly determined that the unusual "transgender" characteristics of the bird are due to a hormonal imbalance.
As The Montreal Gazette points out, "sequential hermaphroditism" -- in which an animal had flutter between sexes or change their sexes entirely -- is found in a number of other animal species, including the clownfish. If a female clownfish dies, the largest male will become female.
Wired also specified that while "transgender" birds have been documented in science before, it's the first time these traits have been seen in New Zealand bellbirds