Photo by Joydeep, CC BY-SA 3.0 Dragonfly Brachythemis contaminate  The dragonfly is a unique insect that often features bright males and dull-coloured females. In some species, however, certain females will be coloured like males. This allows them to go about their business without being harassed by courting males. They still mate but at a much… Read More

Photo by Gerry Shaw, CC BY-SA 3.0 Ch13 (ATCC HB-8573) Human-Mouse Hybrid Cell B lymphocyte Hybridoma (Human B Cell, Mouse Myeloma) Disease: Cancer A hybridoma is a cell made from two different individuals or species which are fused together into a single cell. As such they defy current systems of classifications. Some of the hybridoma cells… Read More

Silkworm Bombyx mandarina moore This series of specimens shows the life cycle of the silkworm in several stages, from egg to adult, and displays egg, larva (caterpillar), cocoon, pupa, young and adult moth.  The vast differences in body architecture of the different stages of metamorphosising animals led some scientists to believe that they are a… Read More

The Platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus The platypus is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal. The male has venom glands that are connected to hollow spurs on their hind legs. In the late 18th century, when British scientists first saw the platypus that was sent to them by the colonists in Australia, some of them thought the specimen must… Read More

Common Seahorse Hippocampus kuda Seahorse females deposit eggs into a pouch on the male's tail. The female then has nothing more to do with the development of the young as the male fertilises them and carries the developing eggs inside the fully enclosed pouch. It’s a “male pregnancy” because the pouch has a pseudo-placenta whereby… Read More

Sea Anemones  Haliplanella luciea  The sexes in sea anemones are separate in some species, while other species are sequential hermaphrodites, changing sex at some stage in their life. In sexual reproduction, males may release sperm to stimulate females to release eggs, and fertilization occurs, either internally in the gastrovascular cavity or in the water column.… Read More

Photo by Pavel Kirillov, CC BY-SA 2.0 Stick Insect Gongylopus Brunner Stick insect females can choose to reproduce by parthenogenesis (often referred to as virgin birth) producing only female offspring, or mate with males through sexual reproduction and have a mix of male and female offspring. The eggs of stick insects have a coating of… Read More

Ants Pheidologeton latinodus  Some scientists consider ants to be a superorganism, meaning that the whole colony can be seen as one organism with the queen being the reproductive organ and the individual ants are other organs that fulfill different functions.  With workers in ant colonies being sterile, one must ask whether they are individuals, or… Read More

Medicinal Leech Whitmania pigras Leeches are protandric hermaphrodites, with the male reproductive organs, the testes, maturing first and the ovaries later. Sequential hermaphroditism is a type of hermaphroditism that occurs in many fish, gastropods, and plants. Sequential hermaphroditism occurs when the individual changes its sex at some point in its life. A sequential hermaphrodite produces… Read More

Hummingbird Bobtail Squid Euprymna berryi Male cuttlefish who are unable to win in a direct confrontation with a guard male, employ several other tactics to acquire a mate. The most successful of these methods is camouflage; smaller hummingbird bobtail squid use their camouflage abilities to disguise themselves as a female cuttlefish. Changing their body colour and… Read More