CLIMATE HEAT TURNS MALE LIZARDS FEMALE

Climate change turning male dragon lizards into females

PTI, 6 July 2015 (The Economic Times)

“Scientists have confirmed for the first time that sex change [of male dragon lizards into females] can occur naturally due to exposure to increased temperatures resulting from climate change…[Researchers from the University of Canberra were] able to show that a reptile's sex determination process can switch rapidly from one determined by chromosomes to one determined by temperature…[W]hen exposed to extreme temperatures [in natural conditions], genetically male dragons turned into [fertile] females…[With field data from 131 adult lizards and controlled breeding experiments, molecular analyses] showed that some warmer lizards had male chromosomes but were actually female…[From studying the new breeding lines, they discovered those lizards] could trigger a rapid transition from a genetically-dependent system to a temperature-dependent system…[The] sex-reversed mothers - females who are genetic males - laid more eggs than normal mothers…[and the] ‘dad lizards make better mums’…” click here for more

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