Sex and gender in the animal kingdom
The word “sex” is usually associated with TV channels and web sites containing tricky content. However, in science, this term is a synonym for gender, male and female, but according to some new interpretations – gender is all those more or less expressed forms of gender ambiguity. The emergence of gender is linked to the emergence of sexual reproduction, one of the most important moments in the evolution of the living world, and not without a reason: this process enabled gene recombination, and with that the genetic diversity in a species. Sexual reproduction allows for natural selection to occur and represents a strong evolutionary force. The oldest fossil proof of sexual reproduction comes from the Stenian era, a geological period 1.2 billion years ago, and is a specimen of a red algae species, called Bangiomorpha pubescens . However, people have been fascinated by sexual dimorphism even in the ancient ages; the existence of the female and male sexes, which were obv...