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. :blue smiley:
A look at a parthenogenetic (http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/jjp1/ansci_repro/misc/project_websites_08/tues/Komodo%20Dragons/what.htm) (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 (http://nautil.us/issue/42/fakes/when-pseudosex-is-better-than-the-real-thing)
QuoteSex 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 . . . (http://nautil.us/issue/42/fakes/when-pseudosex-is-better-than-the-real-thing)]
You women are stuck with us male humans though, for now. Natural parthenogenesis doesn't work in mammals. :sidesmile:
Why sexes exist in the first place is a long standing question in biology. Very interesting article.
QuoteProgesterone is the trigger for girl lizards to act like boys...
This is intriguing. It's the opposite of what I would have thought.