WHAT'S SO STRANGE?:

You go, lizard girl!: Strange species: Women all-powerful (Chris Wattie, November 06, 2002, National Post)

A U.S. researcher has discovered the ultimate in girl power: a small, mud-coloured lizard whose females keep a stay-at-home male, choose from among a host of other mates and decide where they live.

The female of the side-blotched lizard can even determine whether it will have sons or daughters, according to Dr. Ryan Calsbeek, a biologist at UCLA.

"This is the ultimate example of a female having her cake and eating it too," said Dr. Calsbeek, the author of a study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"It would be like a human female who marries a short, dumpy rich guy and then has an affair with a muscular 20-year-old to have a handsome son who grows up in a mansion and goes to the best schools."

His seven-year study of the lizard, the most common species in the western United States, found that while the females are about half the size of the males, they control almost every aspect of the mating and reproduction cycle.

With the exception of the multiple mates deal--hopefully--this strikes a tad too close to home. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 8, 2002 6:59 PM