Half single and half single. A unique bird was caught on camera – video

January 3, 00:42 Share:

A bird with gynandromorphism was recorded by an amateur ornithologist (Photo: Screenshot from video Hamish Spencer / Figshare)

In a nature reserve near Colombia, a rare bird was recorded on camera – a green sai ( Chlorophanes spiza), which had the characteristics of both a female and a male.

This species of bird lives in the tropical forests of Central and South America, feeding on fruits, nectar and insects, and is well known to people. Typically, males are mostly blue-green in color and have black wings, tail and head, while females are bright green with a yellowish patch on the throat. However, there are also cases when it is possible to record a bird of this species with signs of both a male and a female.. This phenomenon is called gynandromorphism.

Amateur onitologist John Murillo saw just such a bird the day before while on vacation in Colombia. The bird he recorded had half green and half blue feathers.

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“Many bird watchers may never see a bilateral gynandromorph in any bird species in their entire lives.”. The phenomenon is extremely rare for birds, I do not know of a single example from New Zealand. …. This particular example of bilateral gynandromorphism—male on one side and female on the other—shows that, like several other species, either side of the bird can be male or female. This phenomenon occurs as a result of an error during the division of a female cell to produce an egg and subsequent double fertilization by two sperm,” explains University of Otago zoologist Hamish Spencer, who studied the photographs and video.

A report on the find was published in the Journal of Field Ornithology. It is known that this is only the second recorded example of gynandromorphism in Chlorophanes spiza. The previous one was recorded more than 100 years ago.

Earlier, NV Techno wrote that kiwi chicks were born in the capital of New Zealand for the first time in 1.5 centuries. Kiwis are a symbol of New Zealand and at the same time one of the most vulnerable species of the island nation.

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