Just wanted to let you guys know about an interesting article on arstechnica.
Here's the linky: http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/09/pregnant-males-and-ps...
I haven't yet read it myself and I'll probably get to that tomorrow. It's almost 1 AM here, time to go to bed for me.
The article is about sex and gender in the animal kingdom. It's titled "Pregnant males and pseudopenises: complex sex in the animal kingdom".
I liked it!
I thought this gave a good look at our own blind spots by giving examples from the wild. The conclusion I thought was well done too!
Hugs
Grover
Interesting article on arstechnica
Thanks for the link. Proves that Nature can be very diverse.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Very Good Article
Very interesting! There's a common counter example of males usually larger in birds. It's often the males who are burdened by extra plumage to attract female mates; either the males appear bigger because of more feathers or they are bigger in order to have more muscle, etc. to move, fly, etc. with the extra plumage.
The exceptions are the birds of prey, who have to hunt and carry food all the time. The females, when nesting, are carrying eggs, which are a significant mass compared to the whole bird. In order to support that mass and still be swift, agile, and climb strongly to be able to hunt, the moms have to be larger; like, bigger wings to keep the wing loading in the same range and more muscle to move them.
Thanks for the post!
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee