Anthropomorphic Anatomy, Period 3, 25 Mar '09
"One of the traits used to describe something - or one - as living is the ability to reproduce, to pass on its traits to the next generation. Of course, it's not quite so simple," continued Mohinder, passing out notes, and listing the conventional definitions. "And members of a species missing traits - reproduction or reaction - are still considered alive."
"Now in larger, multicellular beings - including humans unless or until cloning takes some leaps forward - reproduction is usually conducted sexually." More handouts followed.
"As for asexual reproduction - cell fission becomes inpracticable for anything larger than a bacteria. Budding off of the parent is most often limited to plants, as is reproduction by spores. Parthogenesis is perhaps the most common, with bees, scorpions and even the rare shark forming without the intervention of a male parent. But any of these limits the capacity of the species to change, to adapt to a new world. It can lead to a precarious existance, lost when its world changes."
[OCD is up!]
"Now in larger, multicellular beings - including humans unless or until cloning takes some leaps forward - reproduction is usually conducted sexually." More handouts followed.
"As for asexual reproduction - cell fission becomes inpracticable for anything larger than a bacteria. Budding off of the parent is most often limited to plants, as is reproduction by spores. Parthogenesis is perhaps the most common, with bees, scorpions and even the rare shark forming without the intervention of a male parent. But any of these limits the capacity of the species to change, to adapt to a new world. It can lead to a precarious existance, lost when its world changes."
[OCD is up!]