[UA] Cultures in animals

[Torsten Bernhardt]

> >Um, why are platypodes hermaphrodites?  The females lay eggs and...what?
>
>They're a combination of two separate things, specifically a mammal and a 
>bird.  I realize they fit gender roles closely, but other methods of 
>combining opposed elements can channel the MH, just to a lesser extent.

Er, hermaphrodite means a combination of the two sexes. You're thinking of 
a hybrid or chimera. And platypi are really a combination of mammals (milk, 
fur, homeothermy) and reptiles (those darn eggs they lay, and possibly the 
poison that males have). The beak looks like a bird's beak, but it's 
analogous, not homologous.

Torsten Bernhardt
Redpath Museum
McGill University
Montreal, QC
Canada


_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua