Zanna":2ymmhcki said:The University of Canberra has been doing the breeding experiments and yep, beardies have been male and behaving and breeding as females, with apparently more success than just female base chromosome dragons.
From what I have read it's to do with the temperatures they experience while still inside their egg. So they effectively start out as male, then higher heat brings on the addition of the female chromosome. It's happening in the wild in Australia which is why they began studying it.
In alligators the gender is based on the temp at which the eggs develop in the nest as well. It seems this is just an extension of our beautiful and beloved beardies and another topic with which than can make us stress about them doing the right thing or not! Lol
If yr into biology, might be worth contacting University of Canberra and see if you can get your hands on their printed research
Taterbug":1wdpl2n5 said:As far as I've seen P. vitticepts are not a very sexually dimorphic species - males and females look pretty similar and the presence or lack of hemipenes is the only really accurate way to judge.
The Nature article isn't looking at spontaneous sex reversal but rather developmentally. I don't see it suggesting that developed physically male dragons are able to produce eggs, rather that genetically male dragons develop as physically female and can produce eggs resulting in the loss of the previous (chromosomal) sex determination. I'll have to find a full copy of the article since the abstract doesn't give detail of the sex ratio of the offspring.
Interestingly some 50 species of reptile exist as ONLY females. Parthenogenesis allows them to reproduce without males at all.
wesgtp":w93fhprr said:Thanks for the replies! Interesting, my post of her when she was one year old I think about 7/7 replies said she looked male. Must have grown to look more female since then. I will get a good pic under her tail when I get a chance later. Anyone know anything about this phenomenon? Appears to be a very recent discovery:
http://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-makes-lizards-change-sex-2015-7
SHBailey":10txn4ld said:There was an article posted on the main page of this website on July 26, 2015 about some bearded dragons being able to change from male to female if they're kept really warm. You can still read it if you go to "view more". (It includes a warning not to try to make this happen by overheating your beardie. :wink: )
So I'd say you've either got a transgender beardie or a female that just looked male before she "filled out". But I'd also say that the eggs are a dead giveaway, even if they're not fertile. It's definitely a "she" now. :?
And BTW, she's very pretty too.
JessPets":1bc9i83j said:Well...to be honest, I don't believe in climate change and global warming....
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