Questions tagged [reproduction]
For questions about the means and methods any species, organism or entity uses to propagate itself.
194
questions
6
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3answers
225 views
How long should an egg-laying species of human size and intelligence gestate and incubate its eggs?
In my fantasy world I have a species of reptilian humanoids.
Their body mass, lifespan and overall intelligence is about the same as humans. This probably means similarly sized brains.
They are NOT ...
7
votes
5answers
192 views
Sex determination that would explain the complex reproductive system of my aliens?
Phemogian are a seven-sexed species that passes gametes in a chain. Each sex can inseminate one other sex and be inseminated by another sex. Each phemogian has three parents, with the last parent in ...
9
votes
12answers
5k views
What would make human males an inefficient option for spreading alien genes?
An alien species colonizes worlds across the galaxy, expanding its empire and propagating its race. However, it doesn't do this by subjugating the inhabitants through force, as its technology is too ...
3
votes
0answers
116 views
Anatomy of a sexual parasitic specie with small and intelligent females but large and “brute” males
I already made a similar question searching for possible features which can make this fictional specie biologically functional, so this question can be considered a second part of this. I would ...
0
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4answers
193 views
Would the crew of a generation spaceship obey population control for a century? [closed]
I'll try to keep this concise and focused on the question at hand.
A generation spaceship leaves Earth around the year 2060 on a journey to Alpha Centauri A. Thanks to fusion power and other new tech ...
1
vote
0answers
90 views
Why does an Insectoid species that reproduce via deuterotoky still have males [closed]
Say you have a (sentient Hive-minded) bee-like alien, that functions pretty much like a earth bee: Builds hives, the only fertile female is the Queen, has different castes, drones are only there to be ...
11
votes
6answers
509 views
Would larger humanoids be able to give birth to less “undercooked” babies?
I'm working on the biology of a fantasy race of very large human-like beings (think something like the Vrykul from WoW or the Norn from Guild Wars), and got stuck on one aspect of their development as ...
3
votes
3answers
237 views
Can two species of different dimensions hybridize and successfully produce offspring?
I was just wondering: In some alternate 3-dimensional universe, could a 3-dimensional and a 5-dimensional version of an alien, whose cross-section appeared in the 3-dimensional universe, successfully ...
11
votes
1answer
301 views
Evolution of sexual parasitism in a species with small and intelligent females but large and “brute” males?
So, I had this idea about a sapient alien specie paritally based on the reproduction of the schistosoma
A flat worm specie in which the male is notorious bigger than the female, and this have a ...
12
votes
7answers
4k views
How would interspecies lovers with alien body plans safely engage in physical intimacy?
Now I had previously asked how a loving interspecies couple would work around very Alien Body Plans that is now sadly closed (How will interspecies lovers overcome different body plans?)
That question ...
3
votes
3answers
258 views
What would make a biological host compatible to bear an eldritch child?
Artificial incubators have become the most common way of producing children, to the point where old methods are shunned as backwards. Over 90% of the world's population are born this way, a it has ...
0
votes
1answer
130 views
Human-Alien Hybrid Babies (18+) [closed]
Okay, I have stories with interspecies sex, complete with viable offspring. What kind of gene editing would be needed for that to even work, and how would the resulting child's genes be expressed? And ...
2
votes
1answer
171 views
Would a sexual dimorphism like monkfish be useful for bigger or terrestrial animals? Would it bring an advantage or would be more harmful? [duplicate]
In the monkfish, the females are the larger sex, while the males are very small: in comparison males measure only one tenth of the female, for example a female can measure up to 20 centimeters long ...
4
votes
3answers
636 views
The necessary secondary characteristics of a humanoid, sequentially hermaphroditic race
I'm stewing on an idea about the people of Earth encountering a humanoid race exhibiting a pregender phase. After a period of time, this pregender develops into either male or female based on ...
3
votes
2answers
197 views
Is there a real-life intersex condition that leads to functioning ovaries but with some male secondary sex characteristics?
One of the main characters in my story has an intersex mother (dead by the time of the plot). She was assigned male at birth due to her prominent penis that led a physician to conclude that she may ...
4
votes
3answers
297 views
How Would I Scientifically Justify Dragons Reproducing Asexually?
In my book series, there are several species of dragons, the common ancestor of which ultimately evolved from pterosaurs. One of these dragon species, the Arturian dragon, however, is the only species ...
2
votes
4answers
287 views
How does near-guaranteed pregnancy affect a species' libido?
I have a species of intelligent human-like creatures. One of the things that makes them different from humans is that unprotected sex has a very high likelihood of resulting in the female becoming ...
29
votes
11answers
5k views
How would a planet-size entity reproduce?
I know its questionable whether such an entity could exist, but if there were entities big enough to be mistaken for a planet, how could it reproduce? Would two collide and recombine into three or ...
5
votes
8answers
562 views
What could lead to everyone on Earth becoming gay, and the human race facing extinction because they believe they can't reproduce?
I'm interested in creating a (humorous, satirical) science-fiction short story wherein the protagonist repeatedly claims
if everyone was gay, the human race would die out.
Then (somehow) one day... ...
6
votes
7answers
1k views
How can people procreate when the medieval period is cursed with invisibility? [closed]
Set in the medieval time, overnight a giant meteorite strikes the pacific ocean and then a bright green glow sweeps the entire globe turning all human invisible to mammalian sight! Note that this is ...
3
votes
5answers
307 views
In a world where everybody is a male or female clone of one person, how would reproduction work? Would inbreeding be an issue?
If they reproduce like normal humans, will their offspring be inbred, or genetically identical like everybody else? The only difference in any of the clones are the X and Y chromosomes.
4
votes
2answers
316 views
Anatomy of a Female Giant
In many depictions of giants in fantasy, we usually get visual examples of the male of the species, especially in more realistic settings in terms of biology (Game of Thrones Wun-Wun etc.) But as far ...
6
votes
4answers
626 views
Reproductive capabilites of genetically altered humans
If I have a group of humans that were genetically altered in a similar way, but with different expression of effects in the individual (for example changed eyes, tail growth, wings, scaled skins, ...
4
votes
7answers
521 views
Can an all-female species thrive to become divergent, despite their generic heritage from their mother?
In one of my stories, there's an alien species that are all female and are able to conceive through pathogenesis but I know this generically creates and an otherwise natural-born clone of the mother ...
0
votes
1answer
112 views
Saiyans but plausible [closed]
Sayans are an alien species of humanoids, yet they look completely human with small exceptions
Saiyans are born from a planet called Vegeta, the plant planet.They have a tail and are able to change ...
7
votes
4answers
199 views
How does a species with heat cycles deal with over population?
I'm at the very early world building for a potential story where I have a sort of humanoid feline species that I need to have been known as expansionist and/or war-like in the past but not be ...
13
votes
5answers
2k views
Can humanity survive if all people are born females and later become males?
In the real world all humans start off as females in the womb and then develop male organs before being born.
I'd like to expand that concept further to the humans in my world.
In my world, humans ...
12
votes
6answers
5k views
Why haven’t scientists found evidence of humans interbreeding with aliens?
In my alternative universe, Atlantis was a real city that existed, although it wasn’t called Atlantis or founded by humans. Atlantis or rather, Dosham was a city on an isolated landmass in the ...
1
vote
2answers
149 views
What would cause a sapient race to evolve oral castration as a core cultural part of reproductive intercourse? [closed]
I'm trying to insert a bit of weirdness into the world I'm building, and one of the ideas I'm toying with is to have one of my 3 alien races practice oral castration as a core part of reproduction. ...
5
votes
3answers
249 views
Genetics and Population Dynamics of a 7-sex system
One of the respondents in this thread suggested a 7-sex system with the following features:
An idea I came up with years ago was a variation on the male/female/carries-offspring idea. This species ...
2
votes
3answers
299 views
Could a species be able to be impregnated by anything?
Is there a way for a species to essentially become a living incubator of sorts? Not the other way around, as in Plausible ways for the alien species to be able to impregnate every and any species?, ...
28
votes
24answers
6k views
Why would a 'first world' alien opt to have a brood of dumb children rather than one smart one?
Yttri are an odd race. Like many species on their planet they can selectively position themselves along the r/K reproductive strategy spectrum. r species are those (like some species of frog, fish or ...
7
votes
4answers
646 views
Through Uterus/Reproductive System
Early life, and many modern organisms have what we call 'blind guts'. Food enters and exits via the same opening.
However, that is inefficient and has been widely replaced with 'through guts'. Food ...
2
votes
3answers
306 views
Could Reptiles Be Simultaneous Hermaphrodites?
Reptile reproduction, it turns out, is more flexible than our own. Whiptails, a girls-only species, can lay unfertilized eggs without the need for a male. And Komodo dragons have recently been ...
0
votes
5answers
236 views
How can I force siblings to fight each other for the privilege of being born?
When Lilith was kicked out of the garden of Eden, she was forced to fend for herself in a harsh, unforgiving world. Lost and alone, she came upon a bloke named Satan. Their love produced two children ...
3
votes
2answers
296 views
Would the human population increase without ''natural sexual discouragement''?
I read a theory once which stated that the natural pain, sickness and general discomfort that humans can experience during sex, pregnancy, and childbirth help control the human population by ...
3
votes
3answers
282 views
Decimating humanity though no daughters gene - when and where to introduce it?
At one point in the past, a man had a mutation on his Y chromosome. Anyone with the mutation would only produce Y sperm, and only have sons. My plan is to have this have a big impact that threatens to ...
8
votes
6answers
3k views
Why might a vampiric race have low birthrates?
This pure-blood vampiric race is not immortal, but their lifespans are about five times that of mortals. This race has lived in a vast city beneath a small mountain range for thousands of years (the ...
10
votes
6answers
2k views
To what extent is it feasible for this race to be majority female?
In my world there is a race of humans who are disproportionately female. They are closely derived from and very similar to real-world humans, but are unable to interbreed with the other races as they ...
5
votes
1answer
178 views
Would it be feasible to determine whether or not a humanoid species is fertile in less than a week?
So, as one of the many, many consequences of modern day humanity being given access to a runic magic system by an unknown party, nearly the entire human race discovers one morning that they've been ...
5
votes
1answer
196 views
Could a species that practices maternal dermatophagy develop sapience?
To preface, this is a hypothetical alien creature unrelated to Earth life.
I want my aliens to have a mechanism similar to some caecilians, where upon giving birth, the mother grows a layer of ...
3
votes
1answer
163 views
Physical causes of multiple births in humans?
The setting I'm building has a race of people, derived from modern humans, whose primitive survival as a species relies partly on very fast reproduction, and I think I want them to have a tendency for ...
5
votes
3answers
163 views
Size of a litter for a carnivore with a high rate of death
So, I'm designing an alien race/civilisation of carnivore.
I was thinking of a very aggressive specie, who is both the alpha predator of his world and his own main cause of death.
Basically, a lot ...
0
votes
2answers
224 views
Social implications of complete separation of copulation and reproduction [closed]
The Twelve Kingdoms is a fantasy novel series written by Japanese author Fuyumi Ono, and has been made into an anime series.
In this series, humans, and indeed all other motile beings, are born of ...
2
votes
3answers
276 views
What configuration would provide the most protection for a male dragon's reproductive organs against mechanical and chemical attacks?
Dragons awesome (that's why sub-par writers and DMs use it as a substitute for an actually engaging story/setting) but they're still just animals, animals that reproduce.
Besides it's painful to get ...
2
votes
5answers
391 views
Can a mammal and Oviparous have child together if they have similar external body structure?
There are two humanoid races are in my fantasy story.
Race A is almost like humans, except they are in super human size, have super human strength, have a higher body temperature etc. Some sort of ...
8
votes
4answers
432 views
How would a 4th trimester affect human development?
Newborn humans are born in a very undeveloped stage compared to other mammals. This is because if they stayed any longer in the mother, their head would become too big to fit through the birth canal. ...
14
votes
5answers
375 views
Where are all the non-aquatic mouthbrooders?
Some fish mouthbrood. Some amphibians mouthbrood. Crocodilians carry their babies in their mouths to water. Is there a reason why there are no instances (that I know of) of terrestrial animals that ...
8
votes
4answers
482 views
Alien life interbreeding with Earth life [duplicate]
I had an idea for a planet which, millions of years ago, was accidentally contaminated with various animals, plants and microbes from Earth, and - via the planet's native aliens' bizarre reproductive ...
2
votes
3answers
165 views
Could a mammal procreate if it existed out of multiple sets of DNA in different cells? If so, how? [closed]
I was wondering about creating mammals that consist out of multiple sets of DNA and if they could procreate. I am talking about a singular being that isn't composed out of multiple seperate parts ...
