Differences between male and female Centaurs.
Sexual Dimorphism is the process where species exhibit different characteristics based on biological sex.
Low dimorphism is where both genders have little-to-no differences and are essentially identical in terms of appearance. As such, a male and a female could easily be mistaken for one another.
High dimorphism is where a male and female have more significant differences, and are thus much easier to tell apart from each other. Typically, this is represented via a difference in size, colors and patterns, or other extreme physical traits.
While sexual dimorphism is generally universal for most species, different environments can change the characteristics significantly. A good example of this are the male lions in the Tsavo region of Kenya, Africa, which lack the famous manes of hair typical of the males of the species to cope with the hotter temperatures in the region, thus making them more similar to the females.
Trivia[]
- As the monster musume series rarely features non-human male characters, the sexual dimorphism for multiple liminal species is difficult to discern, though a significant number of examples have been catalogued.
- Male Minotaurs have broad, top-heavy, and muscular builds with bovine-like heads. Female Minotaurs are vastly different, basically appearing as voluptuous human women with minor bovid features, namely the horns, ears and tail and their legs from the thigh down being the rear legs of a cow. Although not nearly as exaggerated as the males, female Minotaurs are still far taller and more muscular than most humans.[1][2]
- Similarly, male Kobolds have a more muscular build than the average human and have fully wolf-like muzzles and heads along with canine-like feet. Female Kobolds, despite retaining similar characteristics (fur covering their entire body, paw-like hands and feet, and wolf-like ears, teeth and tails), have vastly slimmer yet still voluptuous and athletic physiques, and they are more humanoid in their facial structure (most notably the near-total absence of a muzzle) and have a full human-like head of hair as well as humanoid feet.[3][2]
- Male Orcs have completely porcine heads and have a large, broad, top heavy build that remains muscular despite a more portly stature. In a complete inverse of character distribution, the vast majority of Orcs featured are male, with females scarcely seen in-canon, though female Orcs shown so far have a far more humanoid appearances with the exception of their legs having hoofs instead of feet like the males.[4][5]
- Across both genders, Centaurs resemble humans who from the waist down have the entire body of a horse, with both having equine ears instead of normal human ears. However, male Centaurs tend to appear as hulking brutish figures with hunched postures, ape-like faces with bulging noses similar to Neanderthals, and grotesquely muscular top heavy builds. Female Centaurs by contrast are more svelte, voluptuous, and slender, though still visibly muscular and more conventionally attractive. This extreme dimorphism means that male Centaurs are near-universally reviled even by the females of their own race, meaning that female Centaurs almost never mate with males of their kind of their own free will. As explained in the series, male Centaurs originally did not have such a repulsive appearance, but they developed this way because there was a law in Centaur culture that only the strongest centaurs were allowed to reproduce, which over the centuries resulted in only the genes for a muscular physique being passed on to their male descendants with the exception of their facial features which are their original biological differences from the females.[6]
- Vampires and Mermaids have a much lower sexual dimorphism, with neither males or females appearing more beastial or humanoid than each other, with the main difference between male and female Mermaids is that the females generally have a more slender build.[7][8]
- Male Mummies are completely wrapped from head to toe, with little-to-no exposed skin and only minor spots open to reveal their mouth and eyes. Female Mummies by contrast have almost half their skin uncovered, with their bandages typically arranged around their breasts and genitals in scant positions in imitation of genuine clothing.[9][10] Unlike other liminal races with sexual dimorphism, theirs is cultural instead of biological.
- Honey Bees and Honeypot Ants are essentially androgynous across both genders, with the only difference being that the females aside from their breasts tend to have a more voluptuous build.[11]
- While male Killer Bees have not appeared in the series so far, it is mentioned that female and male Killer Bees have different kinds of antennae, which at least indicates a low sexual dimorphism in this species.[12]
- Male Ogres and Oni resemble muscular human men and generally have bald heads, though compared to male Orcs, Centaurs, and Minotaurs, their physical build is not grossly exaggerated and unlike them are still considered conventionally attractive. The females instead resemble slender human women and have a full head of hair, though they still have notably muscular physiques. Both, however, have horns sprouting from their foreheads and are much taller than the average human.[13]
- Unlike the vast majority of liminals seen in the series, Fishfolk vary wildly in terms of appearance, with very few sharing exact traits. Male Fishmen mostly resemble human-sized anthropomorphic fish that have human-like arms and legs where normal fish would have their pectoral fins, although in Chapter 35 a male Fishman is also briefly shown who merely looked like a fish with two human-like legs on his stomach and he was much smaller than most of the other male Fishmen. Female Fishmen like Gill tend to look more like humans with some fish-like features, but that is also not always the case, as in Chapter 35 there was also seen a female Fishman who had a completely human body, but her head looked like an entire fish complete with a tail fin and everything. It also doesn't help that unlike other species, they can change their gender at will.
- Due to their non-standard method of reproduction, Slimes as a whole are a technically androgenous race. However, the vast majority identify and are classified as female, and appropriately tend to shape their bodies to resemble human women. The series currently has yet to show a "male" Slime.
- Unisexual Species such as Lamias, Harpies, and Arachnes are exclusively female and have no male members of their species, with each differentiated by individual characteristics. Harpies are near-identical to each other aside from occasional hairstyle changes, Arachnes are the same aside from markings on their spider abdomen, and Lamias have a wide range of diverse physical features, with multiple body types, and hair and scale colors.
- In real-life;
- Lions are the only feline species with obvious sexual dimorphism, as only the males possess manes.
- Elephant seals have the most extreme sexual dimorphism of all mammals, as not only are the males much larger than females, but upon maturing, they also develop large noses akin to an elephant's trunk, which gives the species their name.
Gallery[]
Mummies.
Fishfolk.
References[]