"A museum in Britain has claimed that some birds are “queer” and that the history of animal queerness has been “hidden from the
The Hastings Museum and Art Gallery is running an LGBTQ history exhibition funded by Arts Council England which claims that some birds are “queer” because they “change their sex from female to male.”
The Telegraph notes that the claims about birds such as pheasants are completely unfounded and have no scientific basis.
A pamphlet available at the museum states “Despite queer behavior in the animal kingdom being observed as far back as the 18th century, it is often ignored or hidden from the public,” adding “One example is of female pheasants changing their sex when they stop laying eggs and turn their brown feathers into the brightly colored feathering typical of males.”
“Pheasants feature in some of the earliest European studies of queer behavior in animals,” it continues, adding “With queerness visible in the natural world, the argument that it is somehow ‘unnatural’ begins to unravel.”
All of this is just totally made-up nonsense.
While some older birds’ feathers change color due to hormonal changes, to say they change sex is just flat wrong.
Biologist Dr Emma Hilton noted that “The only vertebrates that change sex are all fish. Birds do not change sex.”
Hilton added that “Often in the process of ageing, female animals can produce male features as a result of hormonal changes, we can also see this in humans following the menopause, but we would not say that older women had changed sex if they have a bit of a moustache.”
By far the most ridiculous entry on the guide is a description of a fossilized dinosaur footprint, that states “we cannot comment on the sexuality of the dinosaur who made this footprint, but we do know that the 11-year-old boy who found it is now grown up, happily married to his husband Greg in a pink house in Hastings.”
The Telegraph notes that the claims about birds such as pheasants are completely unfounded and have no scientific basis.
A pamphlet available at the museum states “Despite queer behavior in the animal kingdom being observed as far back as the 18th century, it is often ignored or hidden from the public,” adding “One example is of female pheasants changing their sex when they stop laying eggs and turn their brown feathers into the brightly colored feathering typical of males.”
“Pheasants feature in some of the earliest European studies of queer behavior in animals,” it continues, adding “With queerness visible in the natural world, the argument that it is somehow ‘unnatural’ begins to unravel.”
All of this is just totally made-up nonsense.
While some older birds’ feathers change color due to hormonal changes, to say they change sex is just flat wrong.
Biologist Dr Emma Hilton noted that “The only vertebrates that change sex are all fish. Birds do not change sex.”
Hilton added that “Often in the process of ageing, female animals can produce male features as a result of hormonal changes, we can also see this in humans following the menopause, but we would not say that older women had changed sex if they have a bit of a moustache.”
By far the most ridiculous entry on the guide is a description of a fossilized dinosaur footprint, that states “we cannot comment on the sexuality of the dinosaur who made this footprint, but we do know that the 11-year-old boy who found it is now grown up, happily married to his husband Greg in a pink house in Hastings.”
ZeroHedge