
The Birds And The Bees
TED Radio Hour
Are the Katydids Changing Sex?
The males are very passive about mating, whereas the females are extremely aggressive and competitive in an attempt to get as many of these nutritious nuptial gifts as they can. The female eats it while she's being fertilized by the male. She's basically eating a power bar while they do it. And so from the standpoint of like, ok, we've always got these competitive males and these picky females. The katydids don't really follow that rule. It's not like they're not changing sex. It's just that being a male and being a female is way more variable than people tend to think.
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