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4[[quoteright:350:[[WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/senza_titolo_37_20231017111807.png]]]]
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6Secondary Sexual Characteristics are elements of a creature's physiology that result from it being male or female. It is one step removed from "primary sexual characteristics" (which describes the actual reproductive organs). For example, everyone knows that only male lions have that iconic mane of fur around their neck, and that only male mallard ducks have a green head; it is one of their species' Secondary Sexual Characteristics.
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8Many times, fictional creatures are based on some manner of RealLife inspiration, and whether or not they have noticeable sexual dimorphism corresponds to whatever inspired them -- if one author decides to [[CallARabbitASmeerp call a lion a Smeerp]], it makes sense that male Smeerps might have thick manes while female Smeerps do not, right?
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10Now a full discussion of these characteristics is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_sex_characteristic well beyond the]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_dimorphism scope of this wiki]]; but when this subject arises in fiction, it can manifest itself in a variety of ways.
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12!!Secondary Sexual Characteristic Gender Clues
13* AnimalFacialHair: Male individuals with moustaches and/or beards.
14* BizarreSexualDimorphism: Sexual dimorphism played to such extremes that males and females are scarcely recognizable as members of the same species at all. (Can be the result of BizarreAlienBiology.)
15* FurryBaldness: Older male individuals who are bald or balding.
16* FurryFemaleMane: Female individuals posessing a head of long, humanlike hair that the corresponding males do not. (A common occurence with [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphic animals]].)
17* HartmanHips: Female individuals possessing wide hips and a narrow waist, but a small bust. (Also common with anthropomorphism.)
18* HumanoidFemaleAnimal: Species where members of one sex (typically, the females) are more [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphized]] than their counterparts.
19* ImpossibleHourglassFigure: Female individuals possessing wide hips, a narrow waist, and a large bust. (Also common with anthropomorphism.)
20* MessyMaleFancyFemale: Female individuals appear smooth-furred or feathered or elaborately groomed, whereas male individuals appear scruffy or messy.
21* NonMammalMammaries: Species whose female members have humanlike breasts, regardless of whether or not their species has any need for such things (and, frequently, they don't).
22* MasculineLinesFeminineCurves: Females have curvaceous bodies while males have squarer, more angular or straighter bodies.
23* PaleFemalesDarkMales: Females are lighter colored than males.
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25!!Other Gender Clue Tropes
26* PinkGirlBlueBoy: A special case of ColorCodedForYourConvenience.
27* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Gender clues supplied by means other than the individual's inherent physiology.
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29!!Tropes That Get the Secondary Sexual Characteristics of Animals Wrong
30* AnimalGenderBender
31** InsectGenderBender
32----
33Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease Please only list fictional examples that aren't listed in any of the tropes listed here. Anything that fits in any of the tropes listed should be listed in that trope.
34----
35!!Examples:
36[[foldercontrol]]
37[[folder:Comic Books]]
38* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern:'' The people of Graxos IV essentially look like golden-skinned elves, but the females like Arisia Rrab have much more human looking feet. Males like her uncle Blish Rrab have only two toes which are widely spaced and more pointed.
39* ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'': Several female Sleepwalkers appear both in Sleepwalker's hallucinations and as part of [[spoiler:Cobweb's attempt to manipulate Rick into thinking Sleepwalker was evil.]] Sleepwalker women have HartmanHips and hair on their heads. When one letter writer asked why female Sleepwalkers are the only ones with hair, the letter column sarcastically said [[DeadpanSnarker "because there's no Hair Club For Men in the Mindscape!"]]
40* In ''ComicBook/XanaduVickyWyman'', the only way to casually differentiate the Dragons of the Golden Realm's sexes is by the color of their hair.
41[[/folder]]
42
43[[folder:Comic Strips]]
44* In ''ComicStrip/LoveIs'', the girl has dots for nipples, unlike the boy.
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Fan Works]]
48* ''Fanfic/Ben10Guardians'': According to Kevin, male and female Anubian Baskurrs are differentiated by skin color, with [[TrueBlueFemininity females being blue]]. Also, female Decasauran Rexes have a shorter horn, and female Psycholeopterrans have fur.
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
52* In ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'', Gia the jaguar has a softer, curvier body and a rounder face than the male big cats such as Alex and Vitaly.
53[[/folder]]
54
55[[folder:Literature]]
56* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
57** Male [[LizardFolk Hork-Bajir]] have three horns, while females only have two.
58** Female [[OurCentaursAreDifferent Andalites]] have smaller tail blades than males.
59* ''Literature/CurseOfTheBlight'':
60** The swamp elves have them in spades. Women have wide hips, breasts and lighter skin than their male counter parts.
61** The sama lack them. They are all waifish, lithe and have little to discern their genders.
62* ''[[Literature/HomecomingWalsh Homecoming]]'' has examples for both of Trycanta's non-human races (plus of course the standard ones for the humans).
63** Among the lyrror (sapient cats), males have solid-color coats and five toes on their back paws while females have striped or spotted coats and four toes.
64** Among the mazor (essentially dragons), females have a different color of scales around their face than on the rest of the head while males have only one color of scale and their wings are further apart.
65* In ''Literature/StielaugeDerUrkrebs'', the female trilobite is described as being much more slender and elegant than the more robust protagonist Stielauge.
66[[/folder]]
67
68[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
69* In ''Series/DinosaurPlanet'', male ''Protoceratops'' are shown with [[MasculineLinesFeminineCurves larger square-shaped frills and prominent nasal ridges]], as well as [[PaleFemalesDarkMales more striking color contrast]] between the golden-orange frill spots and their gray-brown bodies.
70* ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' has a few examples. For instance:
71** Female ''T. rexes'' are portrayed as being [[MoreDeadlyThanTheMale larger and more aggressive]] than their male counterparts. [[ScienceMarchesOn Do note that there's very little support for this nowadays]].
72** Female ''Ornithocheirus'' are depicted as lacking the keel-like crests that the males have on their beaks, while female ''Tapejaras'' have smaller head crests than their male counterparts.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder:Video Games]]
76* Monsieur Scarlet is the only male ant in ''VideoGame/BugFables'' and the only one with wings; in real life, only male and infertile queen ants have them.
77* In ''VideoGame/TheEternalCylinder'', male Onkifurt have a dark pattern on their bills that females lack. So far, Onkifurts are the only animals in the game to display sexual dimorphism.
78* The female playable characters in ''VideoGame/NululuOnline'' have a ball-shaped body and a ponytail or tail, while the males are mostly round with a pointed tip on their backs. The female Kiku also have two pigtails instead of one.
79* Starting in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', the ''Pokémon'' series had introduced secondary sexual characteristics for certain Pokémon. Some, like the Frillish family and possibly the Gible family, fall into a subtrope, but others, such as Pokémon like Rhydon having larger horns when male, female Pikachu having heart-shaped tails, or female Combee having a red mark on one of their heads, are just this trope.
80* In ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'', Inkling and Octoling girls in their humanoid forms have smaller eyebrows and slightly curvier bodies than boys. Also, female Inklings have longer tentacles than the males, just like real squids.
81[[/folder]]
82
83[[folder:Web Animation]]
84* In the ''WebAnimation/{{Dinosauria}}'' episode "The Last Tyrant", the male ''T. rex'' is shown to be slightly smaller and leaner than the bulky female and has more prominent brow ridges.
85* In ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'', male-assigned imps have white hair and equally-sized black and white stripes on their horns, while female-assigned imps have black hair and black horns with very thin white stripes. Millie's sister Sallie Mae has male-type horns and white roots showing, and is confirmed to be a trans woman like her voice actress; a couple of similarly denoted trans imps can be seen during Beelzebub's party.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Web Original]]
89* In ''Website/{{Serina}}'', male royal villaingulls develop a golden triangular point on the top of their beak reminiscent of a crown for display.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Western Animation]]
93* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
94** Mares (female ponies) tend to have rounded muzzles and eyelashes, while stallions (males) tend to have angular muzzles and no eyelashes.
95** Male hippogriffs have larger beaks than females.
96** According to WordOfGod, the only way to tell male and female kirin apart is that females have eyelashes.
97[[/folder]]

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