Sex Linked Behavior

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What makes us different? Where is the line between genders beyond sex organs? What factors play a part in sex-linked behaviors? (In our modern society, the differences between sexes is a lightly touched on subject because evidence of one being less than the other could greatly rupture our disputed ideas of equality between the sexes.)

Sexual dimorphism is the differences between males and females within a species besides their sex organs, usually behavior or neural function. Behavioral differences between the sexes are the most prominent during mating, and much more in males than females. The testable qualities of male specific behaviors are aggression, urine marking, mating, and parental care. Only a small portion of dimorphic behavior lab tests are done on females because their behaviors are less noticeable. Female behaviors include mating and parental care.

There are many hormones that go into the development and outcome of sexually dimorphic behavior. Females produce the androgens that include estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. With the lack of any of these, we will see interrupted function or a …show more content…

In a lab test done on rodents at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the estrogen receptor alpha was genetically deleted from the rodent DNA, making the rodent brain incapable of estrogen masculinization. From these labs they discovered a large decrease in masculine sexual behaviors, showing that hormone receptors are a major part of sexually dimorphic behavior (Wu, 2017). Of course not only the androgen receptors are needed for proper brain development and sexual function, but also the androgens themselves. For instance, aromatase is an enzyme that is required in males to convert testosterone into the much needed estrogen, and with the lack of aromatase, depriving the organism of estrogen, we see a decrease in male territorial behaviors. (Wu,

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