Virgin birth – which involves the development of an unfertilized egg — has preoccupied humans for eons. And although it can'thappen in mammals, it does seem to be possible in other animals with backbones (vertebrates), such as birds andlizards.
Arecent paperled by researchers from San Diego Zoo reports two fatherless male chicks raised in a program to save the California condor fromextinction. Could the species be restored by a single surviving female?
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Sexual reproduction is fundamental in all vertebrates. Normally it requires an egg from a female to be fertilized by a sperm from a male, so each parent contributes one copy of the genome.
Violation of this rule, as for the fatherless condor chicks, tells us a lot about why sexual reproduction is such a good biological strategy — as well as how sex works in all animals, including humans.
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