Reproduction without sex is more common than scientists thought
Several vertebrates, including turkeys, snakes and now crocodiles, can do it without doing it
Sex is a tricky business, evolutionarily speaking. One problem is that sexually reproducing organisms must suffer the considerable faff of securing a mate (for the males of some species, the struggle to do so can be fatal). Another is that the mixing of two genomes into one offspring means that, per child, each parent gets only half its genes into the next generation rather than the full complement.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Sometimes it only takes one to tango”
Science & technology June 10th 2023
From the June 10th 2023 edition
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