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Hey Bill, I have a raichu I raised since she is an egg and I recently took her to nurse joy to find out my raichu is actually intersex. That explains why raichu acts as male and female. I still love my raichu and care about her the same as before I found out. Nurse joy also said that she is likely not able to reproduce. I consider my raichu close to female because her tail seems it has a flat tip. How rare is this in Pokémon?

To be perfectly honest, genetics is a very complicated topic, and as with all things in nature, it can be … rather messy. That is to say, if you have something that’s traditionally thought as being binary—such as biological sex—oftentimes, the actual definitions of those concepts are a bit on the hazy side when put in practice. That is to say, a lot of things determine the way a pokémon’s sexual characteristics develop (depending on the species), and sometimes, some of those factors don’t fall into the clean-cut categories one would think they would. For example, in pokémon that follow the XY sex-determination system (which is to say, most mammalian pokémon, raichu included), we’re commonly taught that males have XY chromosomes, whereas females have XX. However, there are a whole host of other combinations an individual may have, including XO (i.e., only one sex chromosome), XXY, XYY, XXX (right on up to XXXXX), and so forth. Granted, a number of these combinations actually produce genetic disorders that affect an individual’s day-to-day life (if the disorder doesn’t simply kill them early on), but there are combinations that can be virtually undetectable, save for levels of estrogen or testosterone and minor physical differences. An individual could even have a “standard” pair of chromosomes but develop sex characteristics associated with the other “standard” pair. In short, genetics are far from neat.

(As a note, the above merely describes mammalian sex determination. Reptiles, insects, birds, and all the other pokémon in existence have entirely different biological mechanisms for sex determination, varying from environmental factors, whether or not the egg is fertilized in the first place, right on up to whether or not the newly fertilized egg undergoes mitosis properly—the latter of which is very similar to the process of XY determination.)

How often does that happen, though? It’s difficult to say, and it varies by species, but it’s generally thought to be not particularly common or rare across the board. I know that sounds odd, but I mean that there really isn’t hard data concerning how often an intersex pokémon occurs. In mammals, though, it’s estimated that eggs have a 1 in about 1700 chance of being intersex like your raichu, but it’s somewhat more common than that in insects and crustacean pokémon. Genetically intersex bird pokémon, on the other hand, are either nonexistent or extremely rare. (The known cases of intersex bird pokémon on record actually aren’t genetic. These pokémon have suffered damages to their reproductive system sometime in their lives and consequently started to produce sex characteristics of another gender.)

In short, it’s not often that you see a pokémon like your raichu, but rest assured that she isn’t alone!

Are there any commercial uses for various pokemon’s poisons?

 Well, ironically, the biggest use for pokémon poison (or venom) is … in medicine.

Hold on. I don’t mean that kind of medicine. I mean pokémon venom can be used to synthesize medications meant to treat a wide variety of diseases. For example, ekans venom has a variety of medicinal uses, including as a cancer treatment (as it can be used to attack cancer cells), a treatment for parasitic conditions (as, again, it can attack parasites found in the blood, most notably the ones that cause malaria), a treatment for high blood pressure, an anticoagulant, and even as a painkiller. Likewise, there are a few experimental medications for neurological disorders (particularly epilepsy) that have been synthesized from ekans venom, purely because, well, ekans venom is a powerful neurotoxin. (Currently, most medications for neurological disorders are synthesized from either gastly gas or Poison Powder, if they’re not wholly chemical in nature, but there’s research out there that suggests ekans venom would be more potent. Arbok venom even more so, but … baby steps, as they say.)

And of course, outside of ekans venom or the above-mentioned medications, venom is often used to create antivenom. Most hospitals will carry stock antivenom for each possible species of poison pokémon; this is because each specific antivenom is custom-created from antibodies harvested from certain lab pokémon and rabbits. (It sounds barbaric, but it’s actually done in a perfectly ethical manner … and also, it’s pretty much the only way this can be done without being inhumane to people.) For those curious, trainer-grade antidote (that is, the stuff sold in pokémarts) is actually synthesized from standard muk venom, as this is the most potent available.

Outside of the medical industry, some poisons—particularly those derived from acid-based attacks (such as, well, Acid)—is sometimes incorporated into potent cleaning supplies, as such substances are capable of eating through rust, calcified build-up, and other forms of age and decay that are extremely difficult to remove with soap and a bit of effort. In its purest form, this acid may also be used in manufacturing as a means of cleaning and sterilizing not only equipment but also products in production as well.

In short, pokémon venom is primarily used for medicinal purposes and secondarily as industrial cleaning solutions. That’s just about it, really.

Legally speaking, anyway.

Why do Alolan persian look so different to regular persian? Especially since the meowth look the same…

I know several meowth maniacs who would be delighted to hear you say that last part.

In all seriousness, it’s just because you can control quite a bit when breeding, and Alolan meowth were bred specifically to produce a persian with those specific characteristics. The meowth stage looks similar to the standard meowth, however, simply because most Alolan breeders still think it’s cute and wanted to maintain that house cat-like cuteness through to its persian stage.

Hi Bill! I was wondering if there are any benefits to the pokemon by catchaing them different pokeballs for different pokemon. As in using a duskball for pokemon who come out at night, or heavyballs for heavier pokemon, in contrast to a normal pokeball. Are they more comfortable in pokeballs more suited to them?

In some cases, yes, and this is how those poké balls are as effective as they are. For example, net balls are constructed to be more pleasurable to water- and bug-types. Basically, it operates on the same principle as wallpapers for the PC: inside a net ball, pokémon experience an artificial, digitally created wetland environment, which is simply more pleasurable and desirable of a habitat to very specific pokémon. The same can be said for dusk balls (which simulate darker environments), dive balls (which simulate underwater environments), and luxury balls (which simulate high-end, luxury hotel accommodations … which is perhaps why it doesn’t really increase the chances of you catching a pokémon, to be fair).

In other cases, the ball itself is constructed to better contain pokémon. This is true for apricorn poké balls, such as heavy balls (made with an apricorn capable of generating a capture field strong enough to keep massive pokémon in stasis), moon balls (which possess a faint energy signature extremely similar to moon stones, which is why they’re highly desirable to pokémon that evolve by it), and fast balls (which activate faster in order to counter quicker attempts at breaking out).

Otherwise, for the most part, poké balls just have capture nets of varying strengths. That is, an ultra ball is more potent than a poké ball because it literally is more powerful from a mechanical perspective.

Why do flaaffy lose their fluff when they become ampharos, and then get it back when they Mega Evolve?

It’s actually because the mareep line’s skin grows thicker and more rubbery as they advance from one stage to the next. By the time they reach their ampharos stage, their entire body becomes covered in a thick, rubbery hide that’s perfect for insulating their internal organs from their own potent electrical powers.

As for why mega ampharos grows hair back … it’s because mega ampharos’s power is too great to be contained.

To clarify, its hair grows back to serve as electrical storage, not because it’s “too powerful.” There are scientific explanations behind this; this isn’t a shounen anime. —LH

You’re absolutely correct. We’re more of a monster collecting RPG with a shounen anime adaptation. —Bill

…what. —LH

What’s the function of the back light on lanturn?

The light on a lanturn’s back bulb is brighter than the one on its front, and thus, it serves only one purpose. To put it a little more clearly, the front bulb is used for a variety of purposes, including navigation and attracting a mate. However, it’s most famous for being used to lure in prey. When a lanturn’s prey grows close enough, the lanturn uses its back bulb to blind and stun its prey, then uses that moment of distraction to go in for the kill.

In short, hunting.