History Main / AnimalGenderBender

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' episode "The Great Outdoors" had a swarm of mosquitoes feasting on Ren's blood on their camping trip. The point of view of the mosquitoes had them speak in [[EggLayingMale male voices after feasting and declaring that they will lay eggs]] afterward.

* ''WesternAnimation/BluesClues'': Zigzagged with Purple Kangaroo. He is sometimes seen with a pouch, despite being a male kangaroo.

* The graphic novel ''Pride of Baghdad'' has a Thompson's gazelle referred to as "she" when, given the length of the horns, it's clearly a male.

** Another in-universe example was Serena's Eevee who had the male Eevee tail pattern, but is presented as female. This is before the sexual dimorphism of Eevees were added in the Let's Go games.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', both Noelle and her dad Rudy have antlers. While both male and female deer alike grow antlers, they shed and grow them at opposite ends of the year.

** Reindeer are the only deer species in which both sexes normally grow antlers. In fact the males shed theirs around the time the story takes place, so that means every deer pulling Santa's sleigh had to be either a cow or a bull with sticks glued to his head. Though granted, the deer are usually portrayed looking like some sort of white-tailed deer lookalike species instead of real reindeer, so maybe CallASmeerpARabbit is in effect. Also note that the male reindeer might have been neutered, meaning they'd shed their antlers around the same time as the females (that is, after Christmas).

You might not know it from the way they're portrayed in fiction, but farm cows and bulls are the same species, just different sexes. How about only female mosquitoes drinking blood? Or that female lions lack manes? Or only male cardinals are red? Or that it's male peafowl, not females, which are vividly colored and have trains? Animal Gender Bender is when all members of an animal species are shown to have a well-known attribute of that species, but in RealLife, ''only'' [[RealityIsUnrealistic the male or female normally has it]]. So you end up with male cows, male blood-drinking mosquitoes, female lions with manes, red female cardinals, and female peacocks, as well as male goats with udders, male bees with stingers, female moose with antlers, spotless female snowy owls, male calico or tortoiseshell cats,[[note]]calico and tortoiseshell males do exist, but they either have the genetic anomaly of XXY chromosomes, which are usually sterile, or are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_%28genetics%29 chimeras,]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_%28genetics%29 mosaics,]] or have somatic mutations, which are usually fertile; all three are extremely rare (only 1 in 3000 torties and calicos are male) and extremely valuable (though only chimera and somatic ones are valuable in terms of breeding them),[[/note]] female roosters, male kangaroos with pouches, female rams, adult male orangutans without cheek pads, colorful female betta fish with long fins,[[note]]female bettas can be bred to be as colorful as males, but never with the long fins that the males are known for,[[/note]] and so on. Prehistoric and extinct animals aren't immune either; many times you'll see a "female" ''Pteranodon'' with a long crest. Barring the theory that perhaps these characters are meant to be transgender, intersex, or otherwise an anomaly of some sort, it's best to assume that this is pure {{artistic license}}.

You might not know it from the way they're portrayed in fiction, but farm cows and bulls are the same species, just different sexes. How about only female mosquitoes drinking blood? Or that female lions lack manes? Or only male cardinals are red? Or that it's male peafowl, not females, which are vividly colored and have trains? Animal Gender Bender is when all members of an animal species are shown to have a well-known attribute of that species, but in RealLife, ''only'' [[RealityIsUnrealistic the male or female normally has it]]. So you end up with male cows, male blood-drinking mosquitoes, female lions with manes, red female cardinals, and female peacocks, as well as male goats with udders, male bees with stingers, female moose with antlers, spotless female snowy owls, male calico or tortoiseshell cats,[[note]]calico and tortoiseshell males do exist, but they either have the genetic anomaly of XXY chromosomes, which are usually sterile, or are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_%28genetics%29 chimeras,]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_%28genetics%29 mosaics,]] or have somatic mutations, which are usually fertile; all three are extremely rare (only 1 in 3000 torties and calicos are male) and extremely valuable (though only chimera and somatic ones are valuable in terms of breeding them),[[/note]] female roosters, male kangaroos with pouches, female rams, colorful female betta fish with long fins,[[note]]female bettas can be bred to be as colorful as males, but never with the long fins that the males are known for,[[/note]] and so on. Prehistoric and extinct animals aren't immune either; many times you'll see a "female" ''Pteranodon'' with a long crest. Barring the theory that perhaps these characters are meant to be transgender, intersex, or otherwise an anomaly of some sort, it's best to assume that this is pure {{artistic license}}.

* Santa Claus' reindeer are often portrayed as male. However, when reindeer lose their antlers depends highly on age and sex -- only female reindeer would naturally have their antlers on Christmas. Then again, male reindeer could also have antlers on Christmas if they were neutered. This also could possibly be excused by them being magic reindeer.

* For sports whose season of play overlaps with Mother's Day, a thing they will often do is have their team's {{Mascot}} "invite his mom over"; that is to say, they have someone dressed up as the mascot's mother and have her cheer on the crowd alongside her son. To save on costume costs and to emphasize that they're related, they usually use a copy of the pre-existing mascot suit and add TertiarySexualCharacteristics. Since most mascots are animals, this can often result in characters who don't match the real-life sexual dimorphism of their species. For example, here's [[https://www.azcentral.com/gcdn/-mm-/8e39ad3ebe24c3290cde4ff20a642e6da213b0d5/c=0-198-3964-2434/local/-/media/Phoenix/Phoenix/2014/05/11//1399847394008-MDO.jpg?width=700&height=395&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp the Baltimore Orioles' mascot with his mother]], and here's [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Icterus_galbula1.jpg a real female Baltimore oriole]].

[[folder: Sports]]

* For sports whose season of play overlaps with Mother's Day, a thing they will often do is have their team's {{Mascot}} "invite his mom over"; that is to say, they have someone dressed up as the mascot's mother and have her cheer on the crowd alongside her son. To save on costume costs and to emphasize that they're related, they usually use a copy of the pre-existing mascot suit and add TertiarySexualCharacteristics. For mammalian and CartoonCreature mascots this doesn't create many problems (as those mammals that do have sexual dimorphism usually have it in the form of a body part, like a deer's antlers or a lion's mane, that can simply be removed from one of the mascot suits if need be), but for bird mascots, this often results in characters who don't match the real-life coloration of females of their species. For example, here's [[https://www.azcentral.com/gcdn/-mm-/8e39ad3ebe24c3290cde4ff20a642e6da213b0d5/c=0-198-3964-2434/local/-/media/Phoenix/Phoenix/2014/05/11//1399847394008-MDO.jpg?width=700&height=395&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp the Baltimore Orioles' mascot with his mother]], and here's [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Icterus_galbula1.jpg a real female Baltimore oriole]].

** The 2015 reboot has Danger Moth, a female moth who loves bright lights. In real life, only male moths are attracted to bright lights.

* In ''WesternAnimation/JamiesGottTentacles'', Sergeant Gratchett is a male cow, but has an udder and [[LactatingMale can be milked]]. Then again, he is an ''alien'' cow, so who knows what the rules are for his species.

* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Subverted with Sheelah the kangaroo, she's a female with a pouch.
-->'''Beeps''': Oh, and if you couldn't tell by the pouch, its a girl kangaroo. Males don't have pouches; don't let other cartoons fool you.