Single-Sex Desert Whiptails

[Recusant]

Yes, the title is clickbaitey, but the story ain't bad. That's my excuse, and anyway I don't like the actual title of the article, which is also clickbait. 

A look at a parthenogenetic (female only reproduction) species of lizard, and the genetic basis of its success, among other things.

"When Pseudosex Is Better Than the Real Thing" | Nautilus

Sex is far from a perfect way to reproduce. It imposes a huge cost on a species, and that cost is called "males." If roughly 50 percent of a species is made up of males who are incapable of producing babies, it is at a serious reproductive disadvantage relative to another species made up mostly of females capable of reproducing on their own.

And an animal that reproduces by herself has a big advantage when moving into new territory, because she doesn't need a partner to be fruitful and multiply. Every single one of her babies will also produce its own offspring. Sexual reproduction "seems like a simple thing, but from an evolutionary perspective, it's so inefficient," says Rob Denton, who studies unisexual salamanders at Ohio State University. "It'd be so much easier if everyone were female."

[Continues . . .]

You women are stuck with us male humans though, for now. Natural parthenogenesis doesn't work in mammals. 

[xSilverPhinx]

Why sexes exist in the first place is a long standing question in biology. Very interesting article.

Progesterone is the trigger for girl lizards to act like boys...

This is intriguing. It's the opposite of what I would have thought.