Hermaphroditic Animals

[Aeridus]

I know some kinds of parasites and maybe slugs are hermaphrodites, but I'm not familiar with the higher order creatures that have this ability as well. Anybody know of some interesting ones?

[VileTerror]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphrodite

[Lulujayne]

*sighs* Ahh, the eternal mating season it must be to be an hermaphrodite!

[VileTerror]

*attempts to make a correction using logic, but deletes the message and instead offers to insert slugs into Lulu's genitalia*

[Lulujayne]

Logic cannot defeat me, and your sluggings will only strengthen my resolve!

*Rubs a scolopendra all over VileTerror's latex hood*

[VileTerror]

Lovely Lulu, I believe you may have misinterpreted my actions. I was offering you those slugs as a substitute for tentacles, not as a means of defeating you.

[Americangothic]

Hi Vile!
It was so sweet of you to invite me to your forum, so I thought I would grace you with a copy of my really cool hermy art. In fact, if you like...I think you should post it as a page on "I Blame Danny"...you know...build your comic up with kinky ass fan art I'm afraid to say I won't be putting her on my website..I gotta juggle my vanilla fans in there too and keep a happy medium.

So anyway...on with the show!
http://www.geocities.com/skycladstrega/ ... rodite.jpg

[Lulujayne]

Oopsy Daisy... In that case Dearest Terror, I shall take said slugs and nurture them 'tween my legs. Just don't ever offer me sea-cucumbers, or I'll be forced to slap you silly.

*retrieves Scolopendra and hurls it into the distance*

[Aeridus]

*takes pictures of the excitable slugs wriggling and writhing as they make their home in the depths of Lulu's nether regions*

[VileTerror]

Right.

Thank you very much, americangothic, for posting in my forum, and thanks for the image tribute! My apologies for not replying sooner, or for relaying my thanks through Sindras, but I have been sadly occupied.



As much as I enjoy the farcical nature of the above emotes, I've invited members of the Off-Topic group to pursue subjects closely related to hermaphroditica (is that even a word?), and would like to encourage a little more sophistication in this thread (at least for now). Engaging in an intelligent dialogue about the subject is something I'm very interested in doing.

[Americangothic]

I think inviting them here was an excellent idea...I just read the thread.

I know I'm not going to be of much help or experience in these conversations..I was born girl and stay girl...but I do admire Mother Nature's bounty of diversity.

As a figure artist, I love noticing the subtle differences. In one conversation somewhere, (now I dont remember) I mentioned the challenge of drawing a female form with larger hands, feet and shoulder width, as well as a fuller chest/rib cage. Force of habit makes me want to draw little petite feet, little tiny waists, dainty hands.

It is amazing how Ma Nature can blend things together and everything still be beautifully harmonious.

I've also had an amazing number of private messages thanking me for that piece of art....for being brave enough to post it in the "naked" section instead of in some "dirty pictures" file, or for making him/her so beautiful and "warm" "approachable"..."not scary"... I suspect that these messages only come from the bravest of the brave and that there are many more who are scared to say anything at all.

[Cat42]

...I've also had an amazing number of private messages thanking me for that piece of art....for being brave enough to post it in the "naked" section instead of in some "dirty pictures" file, or for making him/her so beautiful and "warm" "approachable"..."not scary"... I suspect that these messages only come from the bravest of the brave and that there are many more who are scared to say anything at all.

This sort of thing confuses me, what would they exactly be scared of? The people here seem fairly tolerant of various deviations from the norm, so why they expect to be ostrasized for appreciating a piece of art?

While I've know many transgendered persons, I know only one intersexed person, though not very well. He identifies as male. At some point in his life he was assigned to be female by a doctor as a child, though apparently still had his male genetalia? I'm honestly not sure how sex assignment surgery goes in the case of intersexed children. Anyway, he lived many years as a woman, even getting married and having a child. At some point, he realizeed though that inside he was more masculine than feminine and when through therapy and surgery to become a man. And apparently, he still does have his actual male genetalia rather than having something "Constructed" for him.

Reguarding society, it seems to me that people are much more accepting of female to male transgendered people than male to female in the case of instances where it is known that the person is transgendered. When dealing with people who don't know, female to males also have an easier time passing as genetic males it seems.

[VileTerror]

I think that issue just speaks to the terrible imbalance between male and female rights. It's as if a woman who becomes a man is fighting to gain more rights while a male to female is giving rights up. I'm not saying that's truly the case, but it may be the subconscious perception which causes the general outcome you've observed, Sean.

And I think you can add another intersexed name to your roster of known . . . shall we say, "associates". Granted you don't know me in person, I hope you trust my word on the matter and consider me close enough to say you "know" me.
^{_{(at the very least, know OF me)}}

[Cat42]

And I think you can add another intersexed name to your roster of known . . . shall we say, "associates". Granted you don't know me in person, I hope you trust my word on the matter and consider me close enough to say you "know" me.
^{_{(at the very least, know OF me)}}

I don't really know or even talk with the other person. They're a friend of my mother's.

[Americangothic]

there are a TON of lurkers here...people who never say hardly anything..mostly out of fear....fear of rejection, fear of looking foolish..fear of one thing or another.

I don't always understand that fear...geeze...it's a forum on the internet...it's not going to sneak up on me at work and say "You're in Big Dookie Gothia..You told so-and-so to lick your boot".

But at the same time, I can also sympathize...getting to be a part of this community can sometimes be hard...it is a very big community after all, easy to get lost in, all ready full of some really interesting personalities.

[Lulujayne]

Although this article is not strictly about hermaphroditic animals, rather it's about intersexed animals (that sadly did not naturally begin that way) I thought it was pretty interesting -

Huge quantities of Endocrine Disruptors found in the Potomac River

The most interesting thing (for me anyways) was that it mentions, albiet in passing, that Endocrine Disruptors can also occur naturally, and not just from stinky man-made chemicals. I assume that certain forms of naturally occuring radiation could have this effect, but I drew a blank at finding out in what circumstances this could happen, or examples of this happening (without any "help" from humans.)
Does anyone have any ideas, or know of other substances that cause this that aren't in the same vien as "Incredible Hulk creating radiation"?

Incidentally, if all that gunk is messing the fish up like that, I can only imagine what it's doing to the seat of government

[VileTerror]

My "condition" is likely the result of chemicals in pollution as well, though I don't believe there's been any concrete evidence to support this.