Posted by:
odatriad
at Mon Nov 22 12:06:36 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by odatriad ]
Hi Frank.
The two animals whose heads are in that pic, are of equal length believe it or not. Of course, it would be very difficult to compare two animals of totally different sizes, which is why I chose to use the larger of my females to compare to the male. In fact, the female may be an inch or so longer than the male, as her tail tip is slightly missing.
Looking at the pic, you can see that the female's head is much narrower and slender, and not as massive. I can clearly see a noticeable difference between the two, as well as with my other captives(all except those two damn beccari-those do not show any masculine qualities or feminine qualities in their appearance). I said that this can not be a definite way of determining the sex of an individual, as I and many people have found out, is sometimes the case.
While head shape is not always accurate, I would have to say the majority of tree monitors that I have seen and have kept, have noticeable differences in head shape and head size.
What is your take on head shape? As I vaguely remembering you and many others on this forum(back when i was a lurker)responding to people's queries of what the sex of their animals are, going only by photos posted of their heads.. Can this method ever be successful in sex determination, has it ever?? Of course, oviposition is the most accurate way of knowing, but I would guess certain morphological traits can help influence an inference... tailbase is another example I would guess, as in tree monitors, there is a noticeable difference in shape and structure in mature animals.
Other than egg laying, and perhaps certain observed behaviors, what, in your experience, has proven to be successful in determining sex in the monitors that you keep/have kept?
Cheers,
bob
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TheOdatriad
 
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RE: Sex Determination in tree monitors...Cranial Morphology - odatriad, Mon Nov 22 12:06:36 2004