{"id":343114,"date":"2025-08-14T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T06:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/343114\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T06:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T06:00:15","slug":"bangkok-post-scientists-find-surprising-sex-reversal-in-australian-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/343114\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangkok Post &#8211; Scientists find surprising sex reversal in Australian birds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PUBLISHED : 14 Aug 2025 at 09:15<\/p>\n<p>                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bangkokpost.com\/world\/3086621\/javascript:void(0);\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.bangkokpost.com\/v3\/assets\/images\/icon\/icon-text_size.svg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul class=\"boxtextsize\">\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.bangkokpost.com\/v3\/assets\/images\/icon\/icon-text_size.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> \u00a0 Small<\/li>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.bangkokpost.com\/v3\/assets\/images\/icon\/icon-text_size.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> \u00a0 Medium<\/li>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.bangkokpost.com\/v3\/assets\/images\/icon\/icon-text_size.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> \u00a0 Large<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>                      <img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/c1_5739741.jpg\"  class=\"img-fluid lazyload\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Scientists have documented surprising sex reversals in Australian birds such as the kookaburra.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                          Scientists have documented surprising sex reversals in Australian birds such as the kookaburra.                        <\/p>\n<p>SYDNEY &#8211; Scientists have documented a surprising rate of sex reversal in wild Australian birds, a phenomenon that could be explained by rising pollution or other environmental triggers.<\/p>\n<p>A study of five common Australian species, including kookaburras, magpies and lorikeets, found around six percent of birds had the chromosomes of one sex but the reproductive organs of another.<\/p>\n<p>The findings indicated a surprisingly high number of birds had reversed their sex after birth, said researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This indicates that sex determination in wild birds is more fluid than we thought, and can persist into adulthood,&#8221; said study co-author Dominique Potvin.<\/p>\n<p>The study performed DNA tests on almost 500 birds.<\/p>\n<p>The overwhelming majority of sex reversals involved genetically female birds growing male gonads.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We also discovered a genetically male kookaburra who was reproductively active with large follicles and a distended oviduct, indicating recent egg production,&#8221; said Potvin.<\/p>\n<p>Sex reversal is well known in certain species of reptile and fish but is thought to be rare in wild birds and mammals.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have documented how pollutants and even warm temperatures can trigger sex reversal in frogs.<\/p>\n<p>The cause of sex reversal in wild birds was not clear, the University of the Sunshine Coast study said.<\/p>\n<p>But it could be due to environmental factors, such as hormone-disrupting chemicals building up in wild areas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Understanding how and why sex reversal occurs is vital for conservation and for improving the accuracy of bird research,&#8221; added Potvin.<\/p>\n<p>The study was published this week in peer-reviewed journal Biology Letters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUBLISHED : 14 Aug 2025 at 09:15 \u00a0 Small \u00a0 Medium \u00a0 Large Scientists have documented surprising sex&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-343114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115025597382738022","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}