The New Mexico whiptail is a species of lizard with one extraordinary adaptation: every single one of them are female. In a complex process called parthenogenesis, females simulate the act of sex with one another, and lay eggs containing embryos that are exclusively female.
“simulate the act of sex” Are you fucking kidding me.
“COME, WE MUST SIMULATE SEX IN ORDER TO REPRODUCE. LIKE, THIS IS WHAT WE DO TO TRIGGER OVULATION, AND THEREFORE IS NECESSARY FOR REPRODUCTION, BUT IT IS CLEARLY A SIMULATION OF SEX, SINCE THERE IS NO MALE INVOLVED.”
I had a textbook that talked about these lizards. In a diagram, it indicated that one of them was “acting as male” when they mated.
How does a lizard “act as a male” in a species that doesn’t have males to act as? The “male” act being referred to was stimulating ovaries, too, which as far as I know no males of other species do either.
Even the lizards have to deal with heterosexism.
What’s better than this? Just lizards being pals.
so which one of you is the boy lizard in the relationship
sparksoffandommagic 