Michael Crichton Quote
This wild animal must be different. By the way, he said, turning to Grant, if they’re all born females, how do they breed? You never explained that bit about the frog DNA. It’s not frog DNA, Grant said. It’s amphibian DNA. But the phenomenon happens to be particularly well documented in frogs. Especially West African frogs, if I remember. What phenomenon is that? Gender transition, Grant said. Actually, it’s just plain changing sex. Grant explained that a number of plants and animals were known to have the ability to change their sex during life—orchids, some fish and shrimp, and now frogs. Frogs that had been observed to lay eggs were able to change, over a period of months, into complete males. They first adopted the fighting stance of males, they developed the mating whistle of males, they stimulated the hormones and grew the gonads of males, and eventually they successfully mated with females. You’re kidding, Gennaro said. And what makes it happen? Apparently the change is stimulated by an environment in which all the animals are of the same sex. In that situation, some of the amphibians will spontaneously begin to change sex from female to male. And you think that’s what happened to the dinosaurs? Until we have a better explanation, yes, Grant said. I think that’s what happened. Now, shall we find this nest?
This wild animal must be different. By the way, he said, turning to Grant, if they’re all born females, how do they breed? You never explained that bit about the frog DNA. It’s not frog DNA, Grant said. It’s amphibian DNA. But the phenomenon happens to be particularly well documented in frogs. Especially West African frogs, if I remember. What phenomenon is that? Gender transition, Grant said. Actually, it’s just plain changing sex. Grant explained that a number of plants and animals were known to have the ability to change their sex during life—orchids, some fish and shrimp, and now frogs. Frogs that had been observed to lay eggs were able to change, over a period of months, into complete males. They first adopted the fighting stance of males, they developed the mating whistle of males, they stimulated the hormones and grew the gonads of males, and eventually they successfully mated with females. You’re kidding, Gennaro said. And what makes it happen? Apparently the change is stimulated by an environment in which all the animals are of the same sex. In that situation, some of the amphibians will spontaneously begin to change sex from female to male. And you think that’s what happened to the dinosaurs? Until we have a better explanation, yes, Grant said. I think that’s what happened. Now, shall we find this nest?
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About Michael Crichton
Crichton received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1969 but did not practice medicine, choosing to focus on his writing instead. Initially writing under a pseudonym, he eventually wrote 26 novels, including: The Andromeda Strain (1969), The Terminal Man (1972), The Great Train Robbery (1975), Congo (1980), Sphere (1987), Jurassic Park (1990), Rising Sun (1992), Disclosure (1994), The Lost World (1995), Airframe (1996), Timeline (1999), Prey (2002), State of Fear (2004), and Next (2006). Several novels, in various states of completion, were published after his death in 2008.
Crichton was also involved in the film and television industry. In 1973, he wrote and directed Westworld, the first film to use 2D computer-generated imagery. He also directed Coma (1978), The First Great Train Robbery (1978), Looker (1981), and Runaway (1984). He was the creator of the television series ER (1994–2009), and several of his novels were adapted into films, most notably the Jurassic Park franchise.