# Remember the aliens from star trek, black on one side, white the other? I got news. Link **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359 "2011-05-26T21:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/1 "2011-05-26T21:39:20Z")
There’s a bird in Texas got em all beat! Image Link (Stunning! Suprising!) [http://i.livescience.com/images/i/16723/original/9CardinalMF\_K509082smalledited.jpg?1305683133](http://i.livescience.com/images/i/16723/original/9CardinalMF_K509082smalledited.jpg?1305683133) > **[Strange Birds Present Gender-Bending Mystery](https://www.livescience.com/14209-gynandromorph-birds-genetic-anomaly-sex-identity.html)** > > Part male, part female birds have raised questions about how sex identity is determined in some animals. > [@](#): > > A strange bird showed up in Larry Ammann’s backyard on Jan. 14. Clearly a cardinal, it had the bright red plumage of a male on its left side and gray, female feathers on its right. > > Ammann and the biologists he consulted concluded the bird was most likely part female, part male. Creatures with this condition are called gynandromorphs. They are genetic anomalies: Some cells in their bodies carry the genetic instructions for a male, some for a female. While this gender-bending also occurs among insects, spiders and crustaceans, birds like this cardinal have raised questions about how sex identity is determined among some animals ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/2 "2011-05-26T21:49:26Z")
The aliens were from the planet Cheron. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/3 "2011-05-26T22:47:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The aliens were from the planet Cheron. > > Just sayin’. And the Cardinal was from Texas. 's cool.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/4 "2011-05-27T00:55:59Z")
And somewhere there is another cardinal which is male on the right side, and female on the left, and has been hunting this one down for centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/5 "2011-05-27T01:00:47Z")
I find the [funky chickens](http://www.livescience.com/6197-mystery-male-chickens-solved.html) a little disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/6 "2011-05-27T01:37:36Z")
One of these days we’ll have an interesting article such as this whose authors don’t feel the need to gratuitously festoon the photo section with transphobic slurs. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/7 "2011-05-27T01:41:27Z")
I missed something? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/8 "2011-05-27T04:52:39Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > One of these days we’ll have an interesting article such as this whose authors don’t feel the need to gratuitously festoon the photo section with transphobic slurs. :rolleyes: The bird is not a transsexual. The bird is literally _both male and female_ at the same time. “He-she” is perfectly accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/9 "2011-05-27T05:27:43Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > :rolleyes: The bird is not a transsexual. The bird is literally _both male and female_ at the same time. “He-she” is perfectly accurate. In other words, a hermaphrodite? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/10 "2011-05-27T07:00:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > In other words, a hermaphrodite? Or pseudohermaphrodite, something that has features from both genders but isn’t really fully functional as both; the story uses the term “gynandromorph”. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/11 "2011-05-27T07:01:48Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > One of these days we’ll have an interesting article such as this whose authors don’t feel the need to gratuitously festoon the photo section with transphobic slurs. Here, lemme hold that soapbox so it doesn’t shift on you. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/12 "2011-05-27T07:05:17Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > One of these days we’ll have an interesting article such as this whose authors don’t feel the need to gratuitously festoon the photo section with transphobic slurs. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > :rolleyes: The bird is not a transsexual. The bird is literally _both male and female_ at the same time. “He-she” is perfectly accurate. > [@EvilTOJ](#): > > Here, lemme hold that soapbox so it doesn’t shift on you. To be fair, “he-she” IS the kind of term that gets thrown around by transphobics, along with “it”. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/13 "2011-05-27T13:23:20Z")
And “darkie” and “negro” are thrown around by racists, but you don’t see ravens and crows getting upset with terms that don’t apply to them. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/14 "2011-05-27T16:15:29Z")
Watch it, Bignose! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/15 "2011-05-27T17:38:58Z")
To be fair, while there may be occasions when a word like “shemale” can be legitimately used in ornithology, laymen should be niggardly in their use. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/16 "2011-05-27T18:45:39Z")
Very dramatic in a large vertebrate organism (like a bird). Common in insects. I’ve pulled gynandromorphic mosquitoes out of our colonies for years, usually in conjunction with mosaicism - we have mutant mosquito strains with different eye colors or whatever, and usually the gynandromorphs show up in crosses between the mutant and wild-type strains, where they not only are half-male, half-female, but are a mix of wild-type and mutant eyes. I’ve seen bilateral gyn’s (like that bird), as well as dorsal-ventral gyn’s (female head, male body). ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/17 "2011-05-27T19:23:55Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > :rolleyes: The bird is not a transsexual. The bird is literally _both male and female_ at the same time. “He-she” is perfectly accurate. Oh you know perfectly well those terms were used to sensationalize the story by analogizing the organisms to humans for whom those words are used as slurs. There’s no good reason to do so and it should not be done. It demeans both trans people and zoology. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/18 "2011-05-27T20:09:47Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > To be fair, while there may be occasions when a word like “shemale” can be legitimately used in ornithology, laymen should be niggardly in their use. I did NOT spit on the keyboard. Only because I wasn’t drinking anything. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/19 "2011-05-27T22:09:05Z")
For once, rabid debate is nicely mixed with science. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359/20 "2011-05-28T06:52:19Z")
At first I thought you were being hypersensitive, **matt\_mcl** , but then I I saw a link at the bottom of the page to a gallery titled _Stunning She-Males of the Animal World_ on the same site. That _is_ blatantly offensive and eliminates any doubt they might otherwise have gotten the benefit of with regards to the main article. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-the-aliens-from-star-trek-black-on-one-side-white-the-other-i-got-news-link/583359.md?page=2)