Reptile Egg
September 6th, 2010 | Published in Reptiles
In some reptiles gender is determined by egg temperature: Do they have a genetic sex too?
In human, our gender is determined by the sex chromosome, be it XX or XY. In some reptiles gender is set by the temperature of the egg they hatched from.
Can these reptiles have a separate genetic gender? Do they even have sex chromosomes? Can they be male in their DNA but female because of the temperature in the nest?
i must admit the best it is the best question i have seen for a couple of weeeks...........here is the answer
I've written on such topics before, but new evidence has arisen that shows how temperature can determine the gender of lizards. The researchers noticed that when male lizard eggs are exposed to higher temperatures, it "could inactivate a gene on the male sex chromosomes of dragon lizards and thus turn male embryos into females. The sex-reversed lizards look female and have female organs but genetically they are male". In species like alligators and marine turtles sex is determined by temperature alone, but this is the first time it has been noted that temperature could influence purely genetic causes of gender.
i hope that answers it and rubs away any confusion
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