An extremely rare Grosbeak bird has been found by the biologists that are said to be male on one side and female on the other and its striking pics will take your breath away! Yes, this beautiful bird showing both male and female plumage with one side flaunting yellow "wing pits", and the other side having a pink underwing. It is a super rare sight and researchers say that this is one of a kind bird. The rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) is like that because of a genetic anomaly known as bilateral gynandromorphy.  Beautiful pictures of this spectacular grosbeak are going viral flaunting black feathers on its right wing, which is said to be shades of males while having yellow and brown plumage,  typically seen in females. Gynandromorphs show contrasting sexual characteristics on each side of their body and may not have both male and female reproductive tissues like hermaphroditism.

What Are Gynandromorphs?

Gynandromorphs are found in many species of birds, insects and crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters. This bird is likely the result of an unusual event when two sperm fertilize an egg that has two nuclei instead of one. The egg can then develop male sex chromosomes on one side and female sex chromosomes on the other, ultimately leading to a bird with a testis and other male characteristics on one half of its body and an ovary and other female qualities on the other half.

Found in the Powdermill Nature Reserve, amazing pictures were shared on their Facebook page.  They wrote,  "In Powdermill Bird Banding’s nearly 60 year history, we’ve caught less than ten of these extraordinary birds, the most recent of which was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak that we banded today."

They further went ahead to explain what “bilateral gynandromorph” means? They said, "It means that the animal is partly male and partly female, and in this case that line runs roughly down the middle of the bird with male on the right and female on the left (from the perspective of the bird, not the photograph!)." They also explained how, "This bird was aged as an after-hatching-year, meaning it hatched last year at the earliest. Male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks in their non-breeding plumage have black wings and tail, pink “wing pits,” and often have pink on their breasts whereas females have much browner wings and tail and yellow wing pits."

Unlike hermaphrodites, which also have genitals of both sexes, gynandromorphs are completely male on one side of the body and female on the other. Scientists don’t know if these birds behave more like males or females, or if they can reproduce.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 09, 2020 10:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).