Meet Mmamoriri, the lion doing her bit to smash gender stereotypes in the animal kingdom.
The female lion has adopted male characteristics in order to increase her chances of survival, such as growing a mane and a deeper roar to scare off potential invading prides.
Darker fur usually indicates high levels of testosterone, researcher Robynne Kotzee writes in Africa Geographic, which is why Mmamoriri's black mane is even more striking.
Dr Simon Dures studied Mmamoriri's pride as part of his work with the Zoological Society of London and Imperial College London. Testing on blood samples revealed that she doesn't possess an extra Y chromosome, which was one theory for her ambiguous characteristics.
Mmamoriri, first discovered in 2012, is thought to be infertile - but scientists think that any gender-bending members of the pride will be able to pass their unique characteristics down to their offspring.
Source
The female lion has adopted male characteristics in order to increase her chances of survival, such as growing a mane and a deeper roar to scare off potential invading prides.
Darker fur usually indicates high levels of testosterone, researcher Robynne Kotzee writes in Africa Geographic, which is why Mmamoriri's black mane is even more striking.
Dr Simon Dures studied Mmamoriri's pride as part of his work with the Zoological Society of London and Imperial College London. Testing on blood samples revealed that she doesn't possess an extra Y chromosome, which was one theory for her ambiguous characteristics.
Mmamoriri, first discovered in 2012, is thought to be infertile - but scientists think that any gender-bending members of the pride will be able to pass their unique characteristics down to their offspring.
Source
Meet Mmamoriri the maned lioness. Nope, not a typo...she's a bearded lady! #SneakiestAnimals pic.twitter.com/zMbQ5zpQ0i
— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 25, 2015
She may have a tumour or a lesion on one of her endocrine glands or elsewhere that could cause a chemical imbalance to explain what is going on.
Genderfluid is a human perversion. All the pretending in the world will not change that. My sister and her partner Anita have stated such often. Said at least they have the honesty and the courage to admit that it was their life choice. Not genetics or anything else. I agree with their statement. A perversion. Not an accident of nature. Just sad that they are trying to put it to animals.
The lioness could have PCOS