which animal can change its gender?

Ok! Get ready to read this exciting answer; as we know that the natural world revolve around sex. Essentially, to survive your generation long enough, to find and impress a mate—and.. and…have lots of offspring. This is a totally complicated structure that has led to all sorts of adaptations, but the one we’re going to discuss is the most surprising amongst—the ability to change sex. 

Sex is largely defined before birth, for most of animals, and totally rely on the chromosomes one receives during the process of fertilization. Yet for some of the other animals like fruit flies, fish and some reptiles, things work in a little bit different manner.

Now, it’s time to see the list of six surprising animals that can change their sex on their own:

Well, fish are the most common and well-known among sex changers in the animal kingdom. Its man dominating world for clownfish as all clownfish are, in fact, born male. The one male in the group who is most dominant will change into female. Only one female in a clownfish exist in a group. In case she dies, then the largest male to change sex normally and take her place.

In 2008, one more species was discovered that can also change sex---mushroom corals and that too in both directions!

Actually, not much facts are known about the sex lives of corals, in comparison to fish. Although, it seems quite common for polyps to bud off from the parent in a form of clonal reproduction. We may see this ability to change sex in other coral species too.

 Slugs are surely at the top of the list of the animals who have a weird sex life. Slugs didn’t seem to be happy in choosing one sex. Slugs fall under hermaphrodites, who possess both female and male reproductive organs, which they use to mate simultaneously.

The process of changing sex spontaneously has also been observed in the common reed frog from West Africa.

Irony is that human activities also seems to have had an effect on the sex of animals. Atrazine which is a commonly used pesticide has been claimed to change the sex of frogs who are exposed to it. It causes the frogs to increase production of oestrogen, turning males into fully active females. The impact of this on wild populations is currently a popular research topic among the biologists.

Some female snakes such as the yellow-bellied water snake (Nerodia erythrogaster) kept alone in captivity have unexpectedly given birth to litters of baby snakes. It’s a type of asexual reproduction and might have evolved as a last resort strategy in a situation where no males can be available. These are known as parthenogenesis.

Exactly how it works on a cellular level is still a mystery, but scientists think that under certain conditions one of the egg cells can behave like a sperm. In other species such as sharks and amphibians, more parthenogenesis has been described, but so far it has never been reported in mammals.

Last, but not least, it is seen very occasionally, that animals can be born with both male and female sex organs. But these aren’t the unusual cases of hermaphrodites, they are actually half of each sex. This can be perhaps seen in butterflies, where all the wings could be of a different color. It is most likely to occur as a mistake in very early cell division which is known as gyandromorphs. Subsequently, the Gyandromorphs have been found in a number of other animals, including birds and lobsters.