9 years ago
2
Australian dragon reverses its sex as temperatures rise, study reveals
The sex of young lizards emerging from the nest can be influenced by the surrounding temperature as well as their genetic make-up, Australian researchers have found - a phenomenon that has never before been seen in the wild. A team from the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra made the discovery after observing genetically male bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) living as females in the Australian outback.
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This is especially interesting because I remember reading in the past that temperature affects the sexes of embryos in eggs. This is crazy if it can still change after birth.
That's actually super cool if you think about it. It's like the opposites of turtles (their temp determines their sex at birth) but that's nuts that lizards can alter it as the temps change.