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The Zargoids report on human sexual diversity.
Report from: Zargoid Reconnaissance Vehicle
To: Zargoid HQ
Having analysed the anatomical, genetic, and neurological structures of Earth's life forms, we are now ready to report on the nature of Terran sexuality.
Zargoid life forms are red ("male") or violet ("female") without complication or exception. While Earth organisms do have male and female sexes, most plant and animal species are either simultaneously male and female, or change their sex at some point in their life cycle. Metazoans (the focus of the present study) display intermediate sexes and multiple sexes - both within species, even within individual organisms.
We were unable to identify any consistent pattern in the animal kingdom which would clearly differentiate male from female: DNA, size, colouration, which individuals give birth, and mating strategies were all various. In numerous mammalian species, females bear a penis. In one species, males lactate. We discovered hermaphrodite and intersex individuals in many species, including kangaroos, deer, pigs, dolphins, whales, bears - in many instances, in large enough percentages of the population that these forms must have been preserved by natural selection.
Even the dominant species, the human, displays dozens of sexual variations. (When behaviour is added to the equation, these dozens become hundreds.) In a large minority of cases, our first assumptions about the specimen's sex proved incorrect.
Anatomically, human genitalia range from clearly male through a variety of intermediate types to clearly female. In some cases these intersex genitalia were closer to the male, in others closer to the female, but in many cases we were unable to decisively classify the specimen's phenotype. In some specimens, both male and female gonads were present.
Genetic testing proved equally confusing. With some exception, male mammals bear male-specific genes on a degenerate chromosome. Females lack this chromosome: therefore, sexing humans by karyotype should be a straightforward matter. However, the presence of this male chromosome did not always correspond to the specimen's sexual phenotype. Neurological testing only further complicated the picture. The human brain appears to contain an inner map of the body, but this map need not necessarily correspond to the body's physical sex.
In the Zargoid, genetic sex, physical sex, and neurological sex (the brain's map of the body) always match. In a surprisingly large percentage of human individuals, these three measures of sex do not correspond. To give just two illustrative examples from the specimens we initially classed as female: we discovered thousands of women who were physically and neurologically female, yet bore a Y chromosome; and thousands of women who were physically and genetically female, and yet neurologically male.
In conclusion: our preliminary report suggested that it would be straightforward to tell "male" (red) from "female" (violet) in Terran life forms. This is incorrect: there is no consistent difference between the sexes, and further, individuals may be red and violet at the same time, or, bewilderingly, some colour in between the two. Therefore the recommendation of the reconnaissance team is that the Zargoid Breeding Program seek other biospheres in which to establish an invasion force.
Report from: Zargoid Reconnaissance Vehicle
To: Zargoid HQ
Having analysed the anatomical, genetic, and neurological structures of Earth's life forms, we are now ready to report on the nature of Terran sexuality.
Zargoid life forms are red ("male") or violet ("female") without complication or exception. While Earth organisms do have male and female sexes, most plant and animal species are either simultaneously male and female, or change their sex at some point in their life cycle. Metazoans (the focus of the present study) display intermediate sexes and multiple sexes - both within species, even within individual organisms.
We were unable to identify any consistent pattern in the animal kingdom which would clearly differentiate male from female: DNA, size, colouration, which individuals give birth, and mating strategies were all various. In numerous mammalian species, females bear a penis. In one species, males lactate. We discovered hermaphrodite and intersex individuals in many species, including kangaroos, deer, pigs, dolphins, whales, bears - in many instances, in large enough percentages of the population that these forms must have been preserved by natural selection.
Even the dominant species, the human, displays dozens of sexual variations. (When behaviour is added to the equation, these dozens become hundreds.) In a large minority of cases, our first assumptions about the specimen's sex proved incorrect.
Anatomically, human genitalia range from clearly male through a variety of intermediate types to clearly female. In some cases these intersex genitalia were closer to the male, in others closer to the female, but in many cases we were unable to decisively classify the specimen's phenotype. In some specimens, both male and female gonads were present.
Genetic testing proved equally confusing. With some exception, male mammals bear male-specific genes on a degenerate chromosome. Females lack this chromosome: therefore, sexing humans by karyotype should be a straightforward matter. However, the presence of this male chromosome did not always correspond to the specimen's sexual phenotype. Neurological testing only further complicated the picture. The human brain appears to contain an inner map of the body, but this map need not necessarily correspond to the body's physical sex.
In the Zargoid, genetic sex, physical sex, and neurological sex (the brain's map of the body) always match. In a surprisingly large percentage of human individuals, these three measures of sex do not correspond. To give just two illustrative examples from the specimens we initially classed as female: we discovered thousands of women who were physically and neurologically female, yet bore a Y chromosome; and thousands of women who were physically and genetically female, and yet neurologically male.
In conclusion: our preliminary report suggested that it would be straightforward to tell "male" (red) from "female" (violet) in Terran life forms. This is incorrect: there is no consistent difference between the sexes, and further, individuals may be red and violet at the same time, or, bewilderingly, some colour in between the two. Therefore the recommendation of the reconnaissance team is that the Zargoid Breeding Program seek other biospheres in which to establish an invasion force.