While a few things were at a standstill until summer came, there were a few things that could be started. One such thing was an odd side-project that has been petitioned by a surprisingly large amount of people. There were people who were not only interested in joining Animalia, but were also transsexual and felt like they were born the wrong gender. While there was gender-reassignment surgery and hormone therapy, they weren't always successful and the process did destroy the person's ability to have their own kids.
While the Animalia virus did have a lot of potential, there were a few things that were beyond its scope. There are no animal transformations that would result in a change of physical sex, excepting certain species of lizards and that would be strictly from male to female. However, there was an alternative solution. The reason these people have petitioning was because they saw Iphis and Ianthe at the IAC and how they were a perfect blend of male and female. And after Typhoon and Waterlily were successfully made into hermaphrodites, these people were asking to be made into herms as well. The unique X/Y chromosome configuration had already been identified and isolated so the process wouldn't be too complicated. The main problem was that these people were wanting to become Animalians other than anacondas.
Dr. Stein was talking to Judy regarding the complications of the project. "It's not the hardest possible thing," said Dr. Stein, "Though we would have to first uplift an animal of that particular species with the hermaphrodite gene."
"So we're not likely to be able to be able to make any herms of extincts species," said Judy.
"It might be possible, once we've learned more about this gene," said Dr. Stein, "But fortunately, almost all of people petitioning for hermaphrodizing are asking for one of two animals: horses or hyenas." The hyena wasn't much of a surprise as the spotted hyena were thought to be hermaphrodites for centuries, mostly because the females were larger than the males and they had a pseudo-penis formed from their clitoris that made it rather hard to distinguish from the male's genitalia. The horse requests were obviously a product of modern views, as well as both stallion and mare Animalians having very desirable bodies.
"What other animals were asked for?" asked Judy.
"I remember one person wanting to be an angler fish," said Dr. Stein.
"Why would anyone want to be an angler fish?" asked Judy.
"Probably because of how the males of some species are little more than a set of gonads that permanently latches onto the much larger female," said Dr. Stein, "But it doesn't matter because it's quiet impossible to make an Animalian of that type."
"Why not?" asked Judy.
"The only species of angler fish with that particular sexual dimorphism live in the deepest parts of the ocean. Creatures from the abyssal zone can't be taken up to places with lower pressure. Their blood would boil from the lack of pressure. And I won't even suggest taking the virus down there. So I don't believe we'll be creating any deep-sea Animalians anytime soon," said Dr. Stein.
"That makes sense," said Judy, "Just one other thing. Won't those people have a problem with being intersex?"
"It might not be the perfect transition they want, but it'll be the best they can get," said Dr. Stein, "Anyways, they wouldn't be asking if they didn't want it. But I'm sure they'll adjust to their new sexes. After all, we've had several gays and lesbians who have gradually become bisexual after becoming Animalian."
Judy just shook her head in exasperation. "It just seems so much easier to just males mate with females," she said.
Dr. Stein shrugged, "We humans are a bizarre species."
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The side-project would be known as Project Hermaphroditus, after the son of Hermes and Aphrodite whose name was the basis for the word 'hermaphrodite'. There would other names for the project as well, Project Salmacis for the water nymph who had fused with Hermaphroditus to become the intersex being that mythology knew hir as. There was also Project Futanari, though the people who used that name mostly had their minds in the gutters.
The first horse and hyena to be changed by the project were actually easy to find. Goldenrod was a palomino gelding who had recently suffered a broken leg. Rather than being put down, he was sent to Animalia. Goldenrod was rather happy to have a healed leg and was so relieved to have testicles again, shi didn't care that she now had a vagina right behind them. Akia was a zoo animal and was used to being around humans. In fact, the spotted hyena is remarkably easy to tame, even if it's hard to housebreak. Since hyenas weren't popular at her zoo, Akia and the other hyenas were being sent to other zoos, though Akia got a lucky break. The hermaphrodizing process simplified Akia's confounding reproductive system. Hir pseudo-penis was now a true penis and a more conventional vagina was placed behind her new testicles.
While the uplifting and hermaphrodizing of Goldenrod and Akia were successful, that didn't mean there was a rush of transsexuals being converted. There had to be a lot of screening first, to see if the volunteers could be acceptable Animalia citizens, whether they were really transsexual, or if they'd be happy becoming hermaphrodites. It was a bit of a grueling process, but it was better than someone regretting something that couldn't be undone.