18th March 2005, 7:05 PM
Why is that "impossible" for animals? Imagine a creature that, instead of needing outside DNA to complete a hedrix, it instead just uses it's own COMPLETE DNA. Cloning already shows that's possible. From there, just go about the normal process of making an egg. The major drawback, the main reason why sex was invented, is the sheer slowness of evolution via this method. Sexual reproduction allows random genetic combinations to occur much more rapidly than the asexual variety.
That said, there are a number of multi-celled animals that reproduce completely asexually. For example, intestinal worms. Starfish can do sorta either or. Essentially, the very simplistic animals do it that way because it's faily easy to do so, or because they have no choice. (For examples, intestinal worms really don't have much of a choice, they can't just wait around for a mate to come down the tube.)
So yeah, it'll work for more complicated creatures, but they will still need to go about the entire gestation thing. I mean, the whole sexual part is MORE complicated. They need to actually cut the DNA in half and put it in the egg or sperm and then the rest. It's easier to just put the complete DNA in an egg and let it go from there. If the body is designed like that from the start, there ya go.
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This is so freakin' nerdy...
Deanna, this is Tendo City. We mess with each other's polls all the time. Considering there are like 8 of us here, it's not like it would really matter much. Besides, opinions are irrelevent without facts to back them up.
That said, there are a number of multi-celled animals that reproduce completely asexually. For example, intestinal worms. Starfish can do sorta either or. Essentially, the very simplistic animals do it that way because it's faily easy to do so, or because they have no choice. (For examples, intestinal worms really don't have much of a choice, they can't just wait around for a mate to come down the tube.)
So yeah, it'll work for more complicated creatures, but they will still need to go about the entire gestation thing. I mean, the whole sexual part is MORE complicated. They need to actually cut the DNA in half and put it in the egg or sperm and then the rest. It's easier to just put the complete DNA in an egg and let it go from there. If the body is designed like that from the start, there ya go.
...
This is so freakin' nerdy...
Deanna, this is Tendo City. We mess with each other's polls all the time. Considering there are like 8 of us here, it's not like it would really matter much. Besides, opinions are irrelevent without facts to back them up.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)