Questions tagged [reproduction]
For questions about the means and methods any species, organism or entity uses to propagate itself.
3
votes
1answer
24 views
How can a planet full of zombies reproduce and maintain its population?
The zombie phenomenon seems to be entirely destructive.
How can we have a world that is inhabited only by zombies and yet continues to be populated?
For the purposes of this question, I envisage ...
2
votes
6answers
83 views
Logical reason why would the bunker population use Wastelander DNA samples?
It’s been a little over 190 years since WWIII, AD 2157. Most of the surviving human population live in small farming settlements, tribal villages, or, if lucky, United City States. But, there exists a ...
0
votes
3answers
195 views
How can I alter humans to allow them the ability to choose the sex of their child in the ancient world?
Research shows that some creatures in the animal kingdom manipulate the sex of their child in order to maximize the number of grandchildren. Parents in good condition, based on health, size, dominance ...
12
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7answers
2k views
Why would a drider lay only a small clutch of eggs?
In a very soft-science world, in a lush forest far away from civilization and their laws, especially the one about squares and cubes, lives a young, female drider. One day, while hunting for dire-boar ...
5
votes
2answers
96 views
Pangenesis and alien life
Darwin's hypothetical mechanism of inheritance was called pangenesis, whereby the body continually produced particles of information - gemmules - which aggregated in the gonads, and that that the ...
6
votes
6answers
297 views
Pros and cons of hermaphroditic vs sexual species?
Between a species that is hermaphroditic and a species that has males and females, then what would be the pros and cons of either one from a biological standpoint?
Anything not regarding the biology ...
10
votes
3answers
481 views
Is it plausible to make human gametes from different parent chromosomes?
I'm creating a near future world where laboratories could create human gametes (sperm & ova) using chromosomes from different people. So theoretically we could take 1st chromosome from a 1st ...
15
votes
6answers
2k views
Hypothetical maximum number of embryos from one woman?
I am working on a setting in which there are a very limited number of human females remaining, and the intent is to repopulate as quickly as possible. Given a modern level of medical technology, what ...
5
votes
2answers
124 views
Why should magical created sand-bugs never stop multiplying?
My world is a medieval-magical setting like in "The Dark Eye".
An extinct, magical elves-race had a technique to raise "bugs" from sand, but other materials were possible too. Those bugs usually had a ...
8
votes
5answers
1k views
Bioengineered reversible sterility
The Humern empire is vast, unbelievably powerful and (in certain matters) brutally authoritarian.
One such issue is that of reproduction. In order to ensure that all subjects of the Empire remain ...
2
votes
1answer
165 views
What would humanoid hermaphrodite family units look like? [closed]
My elves are hermaphrodites, but they need another partner to actually reproduce. Their pregnancies last for about two years, and pregnancy is very physically tolling. They usually give birth to one ...
9
votes
5answers
433 views
Why would an entire biosphere evolve to reproduce with three parents instead of two?
So I have an alien biosphere in which trisexual reproduction predominates. As far as we can tell, trisexual reproduction does not offer an advantage when it comes to shuffling genes. The biological ...
12
votes
7answers
3k views
Why are cambions unable to reproduce amongst each other?
There is an ancient, satanical practice that is performed in this society called the sabbatical. This ritual takes the form of a festival, in which witches get together and discuss recent events, ...
3
votes
3answers
216 views
How can a change to the male refractory period affect the hierarchial structure of the family? [closed]
In this world, the cost of reproduction for males is higher due to the refractory period being much longer. After ejaculations occurs, the testes must take time to produce sperm once again. This can ...
2
votes
5answers
727 views
Is the Concept of Multiple Fantasy Races Scientifically Flawed? [closed]
Many fantasy worlds have multiple humanoid species (elves, orcs, humans, etc) living in the same world, in addition to that, they often have the ability to interbreed. And I can't help but question ...
3
votes
1answer
121 views
Plant-Animal reproduction
I'm designing an Anthropomorphic Lu-pine. (Get it? Cuz it's technically a tree, but it looks like a werewolf.) They are mobile, omnivorous plants, slightly larger than the average person. They are ...
7
votes
3answers
139 views
2-Dimensional sexual polymorphism - What chromosome system would allow this kind of reproduction?
"Polymorphism" is the name for when members of the same species exhibit different physical forms. The differences between the male and female phenotype is an example of polymorphism in humans (and ...
-5
votes
2answers
112 views
Supporting Larger Litter Size In Rabbit-Women With Minimal Deviations?
I had an idea for a race that is humans alchemically fused with various animals. One of the sub-varieties is rabbit-people, who have the famed bunny fertility. How might the bodies of the women be ...
0
votes
1answer
145 views
Realistic Shapeshifter Attempt
Imagine a sessile, multi-cellular slime like organism (or whatever necessary) awaits in a burrow or along a tree branch. Then an animal lands in its ooze and is trapped and soon paralyzed by its venom ...
5
votes
5answers
317 views
How can I use magic to make childbirth easier?
Going through labour is an intense and painful process that can last anywhere from 8 to 18 hours. It was also very dangerous for women during the middle ages. The lack of medicine and healthcare led ...
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1answer
81 views
Different Rates of Twins Across Different Races? [closed]
I heard recently that different races have different rates of twins/other multiple births, with individuals of Asian descent being the least likely to have multiple births, while those of African ...
12
votes
4answers
1k views
Are reproductive and excretory systems inherently linked? Could life evolve differently?
As far as I have been able to determine, the majority of life reuses the same plumbing for reproductive and digestive/excretory systems. In fact, the anus is believed to be derived from the male ...
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votes
3answers
147 views
Preventing dumb self-replicating machines to take over the humanity and potential case for the Fermi paradox [duplicate]
It could be that the solution to the Fermi paradox is that civilizations of biological creatures are typically destroyed due to being taken over by machines that are much dumber than the original ...
22
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9answers
3k views
What effect would a means of reproduction without pregnancy have on the population?
In sci-fi, we can find the concept of artificial fertilization and incubator quite commonly. I work in a company that's heavily involved in that technology, so I became curious to adapt this to my ...
7
votes
8answers
286 views
How to determine whose child is which?
So, on the planet Qualis, the sole dominant sapient species, the Qualians, a reptilian species, has a problem. Their species are oviparous, and their eggs need heat and protection. Qualian mothers ...
36
votes
21answers
12k views
Plausible cause of a family only giving birth to females?
I had an idea about a lineage supposedly cursed so that the women only give birth to more women, but I'm thinking that some outside force purposefully mutated/altered their DNA to cause the effect ...
11
votes
3answers
265 views
Hydras as parasitic-mating, polyandrous amphibians?
This is the second question in a series about my ongoing worldbuilding project, which seeks to explain the evolution and biology of various fantasy creatures. The first one was: Is petrifying vision ...
3
votes
1answer
241 views
Evolutionary Advantage to An All-Female Race? [closed]
In some fantasy works there are races, like some interpretations of harpies and mermaids, among others, that are all female, and need to seek out other races, like humans, to reproduce, the daughters ...
3
votes
4answers
536 views
Why would my advanced Dragon society forbid their young adults to engage in sexual activities
The Idea
I currently play with the idea of a story where the protagonist travels a foreign world, visits places, studies customs hand history of locals, meets with survivors of historical events and ...
2
votes
1answer
150 views
Anatomically Correct “Thirds” [closed]
The concept of "Thirds" comes from the anime OVA series, "Armitage III". Basically, the people of Mars designed robotic women that were actually capable of getting pregnant and giving birth to human ...
5
votes
6answers
318 views
Reproductive Neck Darts
Yay my second alien sex question, I hope I am not arrested.
Context
Okay now to nitty gritty, So I got an intelligent species of Ostrich/flamingo looking creatures(this refers only to the shape, ...
6
votes
5answers
997 views
Bonobo-LIke Social Structure
Bonobos tend to solve disagreements through sex instead of violence, what might have caused this to evolve, or something similar to evolve in a sapient race of humanoids?
2
votes
6answers
421 views
Medieval “Morning After” Pill?
We've all probably heard of the "morning after" pill women take after sex to try and prevent pregnancy, right? Is it possible for a culture with largely medieval technology to create such a pill, or ...
10
votes
3answers
480 views
Egg Geometry--Shape of Eggs in Oviparous Humanoids
What shape would the eggs of a species of oviparous humanoids be?
Eggs are common enough that you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't seen one. While birds' eggs are often thought of more ...
6
votes
3answers
292 views
Family planning for octopus?
I'm trying to layout a scientifically correct evolution path for the octopus to develop intelligence on the post-human Earth. I'd like to know if it's possible for an octopus mom to choose, or use ...
2
votes
6answers
222 views
How to make this species with specific constraints regarding reproduction viable?
While fleshing out the details of my species, I have some concerns regarding reproduction. This species has several constraints which make it difficult to get pregnant and reproduce. These include:
...
-2
votes
1answer
355 views
If we all became immortal at once, will we ever stop expanding the size of population? [closed]
Let's set the boundaries:
Same earth, same time
Overnight we all become immortals and totally indestructible
Peoples never fall ill nor need to sustain themselves
They actually can reproduce without ...
-2
votes
1answer
151 views
Lisa's pregnancy support: is it practical for any pregnancy? [closed]
While Lisa is pregnant, she gets support from her husband and his grandparents.
Robin ends up on double duty, both hunting and building because pregnancy makes it difficult for Lisa to hunt.
His ...
-4
votes
4answers
219 views
Cause of the Male/Female Birth Imbalance in “A Brother's Price”? [duplicate]
I stumbled across the tropes page from "A Brother's Price" the other day. Basically, the novel takes place on an alternate Earth in a country called Queensland, where only around one in every ten ...
0
votes
1answer
150 views
Shorter refractory period? [closed]
What could cause a humanoid race, or even a group of humans, to develop a shorter sexual refractory period (that is, the males can have sex again more quickly after an orgasm)?
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votes
1answer
67 views
Increasing the Survival Rate of Multiple Births? [closed]
Historically, multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) are less likely to survive under circumstances of high infant mortality, what might change that so at least one tends to survive?
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votes
2answers
152 views
Increasing the Rate of Multiple Births in Humanoids? [duplicate]
What factors would cause a humanoid race (like, say, goblins, just to throw an example out there) to have a significantly higher rate of multiple births than the human norm? Presumably a large ...
2
votes
2answers
171 views
Humanoid Gestation Rates?
What are the fastest and slowest gestation rates possible in a humanoid species and/or a human sub-species? What does the gestation rate say about the species and vice versa?
5
votes
1answer
226 views
In a species of simultaneous hermaphrodites, would there be any meaningful difference between siblings of the same parents in opposite roles?
Inspired by this question: Sexual reproduction without biological sex
And, to a lesser extent, this question: Would a society of simultaneous hermaphrodites have gender roles?
I'm not particularly ...
-4
votes
3answers
193 views
How to keep up child births in a marriageless society [closed]
I’m designing a country where marriage doesn’t exist and need an explanation about how child-births remain roughly the same in a marriage-less society.
Some sub-questions:
How do I make it a social ...
69
votes
15answers
11k views
Designing an animal that wants to be eaten
So I had a funny idea, somewhat based off the cow in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe in the Hitchhikers Guide. You know the one—that wants to be eaten and whose only purpose in life is to be ...
10
votes
13answers
1k views
How does a species with three “sexes”, where only two needed are at a time, determine the sex of its offspring?
I am trying to figure out the sex-determination of a very foreign form of reproduction.
A species has three sexes X, Y, and Z. X produces X gametes, Y produces Y gametes, Z produces Z gametes. They ...
3
votes
2answers
269 views
Express Pregnancy: How fast can a mother's body adjust?
You all know the story of a women waking up to find herself heavily pregnant with some demon child or somesuch, or the pregnancy spanning a couple of days/weeks rather than the standard 9 months. ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Plausibility of this Zoonotic(inter-species) Reproduction Method
I've answered a few questions with this process but I wanted to see if I could bounce/refine this off the communities more biologically adept members.
Basically it goes like so:
As a means of ...
43
votes
4answers
11k views
Is pregnancy in zero-g a barrier to long term space living?
I'd like to have a community of humans live indefinitely in space habitats (think space stations supporting mining operations in the asteroid belt).
The technology would be "day after tomorrow"-level;...
