Pesticide atrazine can turn male frogs into females
Atrazine, one of the world’s most widely used pesticides, wreaks havoc with the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists.
The 75 percent that are chemically castrated are essentially “dead” because of their inability to reproduce in the wild, reports UC Berkeley’s Tyrone B. Hayes, professor of integrative biology.
“These male frogs are missing testosterone and all the things that testosterone controls, including sperm. So their fertility is as low as 10 percent in some cases, and that is only if we isolate those animals and pair them with females,” he said. “In an environment where they are competing with unexposed animals, they have zero chance of reproducing.”
The 10 percent or more that turn from males into females – something not known to occur under natural conditions in amphibians – can successfully mate with male frogs but, because these females are genetically male, all their offspring are male.
Here's a walk though video where you can see the actual game play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZmuirrmCtE
Where? I'd like to check it out, I've heard it's pretty funny.
Doh! Sorry I forgot the link fren. I edited my original post to include it, but here it is for your convenience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZmuirrmCtE
No problem fren! Thank you so much
I just watched it played through. It was oddly satisfying lol.
downright hilarious
Gay Frogs? As in old school “happy” or as in Gay Frogs not like there’s anything wrong with that?
Gay as in atrazine.
Pesticide atrazine can turn male frogs into females
Atrazine, one of the world’s most widely used pesticides, wreaks havoc with the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists.
The 75 percent that are chemically castrated are essentially “dead” because of their inability to reproduce in the wild, reports UC Berkeley’s Tyrone B. Hayes, professor of integrative biology.
“These male frogs are missing testosterone and all the things that testosterone controls, including sperm. So their fertility is as low as 10 percent in some cases, and that is only if we isolate those animals and pair them with females,” he said. “In an environment where they are competing with unexposed animals, they have zero chance of reproducing.”
The 10 percent or more that turn from males into females – something not known to occur under natural conditions in amphibians – can successfully mate with male frogs but, because these females are genetically male, all their offspring are male.
https://news.berkeley.edu/2010/03/01/frogs/
The 2nd kind. Caused by drinking water in some city if I recall correctly. It's an Alex Jones classic.
Ahhh….found it!
https://youtu.be/9JRLCBb7qK8?si=Vg99C1F7yxZinV4r
Hilarious…thanks fren🐸