Only recently, a team of zoologists working in New Zealand have stumbled upon what they claim to be a world first: a transgender bellbird. As they explain, this particular specimen displays the characteristics of both sexes.
Thus, it has the white cheek stripe that is typically found in females, and the dark body plumage that defines males.
Moreover, it seems that, although DNA testing carried out back in 2011, when the bird hatched at the Zealandia eco-sanctuary, indicated that it was a female, the bird somehow grew to manifest the characteristics of both sexes.
More precisely: its appearance is anything but ordinary, and its behavior also indicates that it is highly possessive about its territory, something which never happens in the case of females belonging to this species.
Apparently, a hormonal imbalance caused this bellbird to display the aforementioned characteristics at the same time.
Sources explain that several other transgender birds have been studied by scientists in the past, but that this was the first time when a bellbird from New Zealand was found to suffer from this condition.
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