Crossdressing - Not just for humans!

[abbiedrake]

Found this:
https://curiosity.com/topics/cuttlefish-prefer-cross-dressers-curiosity?utm_source=androidapp

It's worth reading it all. The twist ending...
😁

[Teresa]

Abbie,
So it gives a little twist to the BI/gay question , what exactly is a guy dressed and who is he trying to fool and why ?

[abbiedrake]

Shame human women don't show a preference for crossdresser sperm...

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Also I'm not sure I want to be able to retract my 'extra tentacle'. 😜

[Macey]

Oh wow, that's fascinating! Went to the wikipedias and it bears the story out, cited with links to other articles.

Thank you Abbie! Love learning! :)

[DMichele]

I find it interesting that the sciences know more about the gender(s) of earth's creatures than the humans living on earth.

[GretchenM]

The giant cuttlefish behavior is a classic example of how environment can influence and even alter the behavior. The mating is a violent orgy and some females get seriously injured or even killed. That is not good for the survival of the species. So, to balance that evolution found a new pathway by altering the behavior of some males so the gentler and kinder ones get selected by the females. It helps to preserve the continuation of the species. As Malcolm said in Jurassic Park, "Nature always finds a way." Maybe not always, but usually.

Certain species of frogs in Africa utilize a different technique. In some environmental times, males change into females to increase the egg laying, but under different conditions females change into males. This way, the number of eggs laid is adjusted to more closely match the environmental conditions and the available resources.

It makes me wonder if perhaps humans are showing a shift within our social structure and the genetic foundations of that social structure. Now, in much of the world the need for a strong male/female differentiation is no longer a significant environmental factor. Perhaps our behavior pattern is shifting so that males and females are more alike than different. Of course, this new environment we have created through innovation and this possible behavior shift will take many generations and a continuation of this new environment we live in to actually become widespread, but it is not unreasonable to assume that such a social shift could show up in the biological imperatives (genetics) that maintains this behavior while still preserving the old patterns just in case conditions change back to the original conditions. Nature also likes to have insurance policies by not completely doing away with older techniques. It is the way the adaptive process works. So maybe those who have more of a mixed gender behavior are becoming more abundant in the population as a way for humans to adapt to a new way of life. Check back in a few hundred years, but it is not unreasonable to suspect that the humans of tomorrow will behave rather differently than the way humans behave today and very differently than they did in the not so distant past. The mathematics of adaptive shifts shows that new approaches to new environments can occur with amazing speed.

Thanks for bringing up the cuttlefish behavior.

[Meghan4now]

Well dang, there goes my theory that crossdressing and transgender is genetically based. I used to say it was, because only humans have this characteristic, therefore only associated with human genes. Or was that jeans?

[Macey]

Meghan, I don't think that cuttlefish wear jeans. If they did, would it be called 'pant tentacles' instead of 'pant legs'?

[Princess Chantal]

Other creatures to research are garter snakes (woot woot going to check out the Narcisse snake dens this week), clown fish, slipper limpet sea snail, hyenas, colobus monkeys, hummingbirds and lions.

[nvlady]

So if you want an accepting spouse ------------.

[abbiedrake]

... And you don't mind said spouse being a selpidae, fill your boots. Lol
Also does that retraction of the extra tentacle strike anyone as a rather extreme form of tucking?
Also, to be clear, Chantel, surely some of those you mention, whilst exhibiting homosexual tenancies surely don't change their presentation right? Or are there in fact male lions who lack the mane and musculature of other males?

[Beverley Sims]

Made good reading but I wouldn't bother to question these activities at all.

Let them get their jollies their own way. :-)

[sometimes_miss]

Or are there in fact male lions who lack the mane and musculature of females?
The males ARE the larger and have the long manes.

Shame human women don't show a preference for crossdresser sperm...
Oh, there are, but very, very few; and just not nearly enough for each of us to have our very own....

[abbiedrake]

The males ARE the larger and have the long manes.

Oopsy. Edited to read as originally intended.
Thanks. 😬