If you ever played (or even if you haven’t) Angry Birds, then you would know that the poster bird for it is the red and very mean-looking one. It’s almost impossible for people not to recognize that red bird, because, at some point in the past decade, the game has been everywhere, just like how it was with Plants vs Zombies.
Well, how would you feel if you were to actually see it in real life? The red bird is heavily based on the real-life species of northern cardinals, who look truly cartoonish enough to resemble its animated counterpart.
What you are about to see, however, is a whole new version of the said species—because this one comes with a rare genetic abnormality that makes it half female and half male. It is literally two-faced, just like the ones we see in an entertainment show where someone dresses and does their make-up as a woman on one side, and a man on the other.
The bird’s appearance is what we call a bilateral gynandromorph, and it is characterized by an almost symmetrical division of its body and face right down the middle, and its side profiles are half male and half female. At a glance, you could quickly tell that the bird is really unusual and unique.
This northern cardinal has a rare genetic abnormality that makes it half male and female.
It has a female plumage on one side of its whole face and body, and the other side with a male plumage. The bird was tagged and captured in Texas.
When you look at the cardinal from the side, you would see a male red northern cardinal, and if you check the other side, you would see a white cardinal, which means it is female.
It was caught and released by the USA’s Inland Bird Banding Association.
Its genetic abnormality itself is known as bilateral gynandromorphism. This means that its special and unique appearance also makes it share both male and female genitalia.
The bird was first banded back in 2014, and it regularly returns to its place of capture. It comes back to the feeders every year, and sometime, people are lucky enough to be able to marvel at its peculiar appearance.
When the first photos of it were uploaded online, the bird became a celebrity. It gathered almost 7k comments, and the original post of it has been shared for over 58k times already.
“Interesting, nature is always experimenting, we just don’t always get to see the results. He/she does not appear to be too pleased with the current situation. That’s one grumpy face,” one person said.
Here’s another example of bilateral gynandromorphism in another creature.
Even some chickens have it, too!
Seeing it on its red side really makes it look the iconic Red in Angry Bird (and the males really do), and when you look at it on the other side, it has this regal white plumage that truly contrasts the brooding aura of its opposing side. This may be a rare phenomenon with birds, but you would be surprised to learn that it actually happens in insects a lot more commonly.
Comment down your thoughts, or share this peculiar bird for all your family and friends to see!
