I wrote about the ruff years ago, but here we go again, just for the fun of it. Of course, the ruff (Calidrix pugnax) isn´t a human (Homo sapiens). Some quotes from Wikipedia:
"Three differently plumaged types of male, including a rare form that mimics the female, use a variety of strategies to obtain mating opportunities at a lek, and the colourful head and neck feathers are erected as part of the elaborate main courting display."
"The ruff has three male forms, which differ in mating behaviour and in appearance: the typical territorial males which have a dark neck ruff, satellite males which have a white neck ruff, and the very rare cryptic males known as "faeders" which have female-like plumage. The behaviour and appearance of each individual male remain constant through its adult life, and are determined by a simple genetic polymorphism. Territorial behaviour and appearance is recessive to satellite behaviour and appearance, while preliminary research results suggest that the faeder characteristics are genetically controlled by a single dominant gene. It was originally thought that the difference between territorial and satellite males was due to a sex-linked genetic factor, but in fact the genetic locus relevant for the mating strategy is located on an autosome, or non-sex chromosome. That means that both sexes can carry the two different forms of the gene, not just males. The female does not normally show evidence of her genetic type, but when females are given testosterone implants, they display the male behaviour corresponding to their genotype. This testosterone-linked behaviour is unusual in birds, where external sexual characteristics are normally determined by the presence or absence of oestrogen."
Translation: the ruff has three genetically distinct forms of males, one of them mimicking the females, and the females have the same genes that create the variation in the males, genes which can be stimulated by testosterone, at which point the females exhibit male behavior...
Mother Nature at her finest. LOL.
I wrote these two reviews during my most pro-queer, left-liberal period. Fun to read, actually! But no ruff - I must have missed it somehow, I´m sure it was in those books.
ReplyDeletehttps://ashtarbookblog.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-flight-of-lesbian-raven.html
https://ashtarbookblog.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-gay-science.html
Also, my most skeptical period, since I attack the "spiritual" perspective of Bagemihl.
ReplyDeleteOch i människoriket har vi män som opererar sig och sen kräver tillgång till exklusivt kvinnliga platser och sammanhang. Alla sätt är bra utom de dåliga. Antar jag...
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