For questions about the means and methods any species, organism or entity uses to propagate itself.
5
votes
4answers
718 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
117 views
What would humanoid hermaphrodite family units look like?
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
382 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
2k 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
157 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
600 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
102 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
126 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
97 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
131 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 ...
3
votes
5answers
271 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 ...
-1
votes
1answer
70 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 ...
11
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 ...
-3
votes
3answers
114 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 ...
21
votes
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
270 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
11k 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 ...
10
votes
3answers
201 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
207 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
416 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
136 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
297 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
927 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
308 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
436 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
255 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
213 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
293 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
146 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
208 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
110 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)?
-3
votes
1answer
64 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?
-2
votes
2answers
145 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
128 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
188 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
185 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
876 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
230 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;...
3
votes
3answers
230 views
Humanoids with breath weaponry — how would it impact their mating rites?
So, one of the races in my headcanon is a race of draconic humanoids (dragonkin/dragonborn, basically). One of their salient features is that the species develops the ability to spit a pyrophoric, ...
4
votes
8answers
344 views
What is the result of a genetic mutation that disallows female offspring?
Premise: Assume that one man has a genetic mutation such that his gametes (sperm) never have an X-chromosome. Unlike most men (who have a roughly 50/50 chance to sire a male or a female child) this ...
-3
votes
1answer
157 views
Should pregnancy wait? [closed]
Robin and Lisa have run into a bit of a conundrum. They just planted a garden in the beginning of spring and are growing fruits, vegetables, and grains, some of which came from Robin's grandparents. ...
8
votes
2answers
214 views
Multiple Methods Of Reproduction
There are many organisms that sometimes reproduce asexually and sometimes reproduce sexually (even snakes and sharks!).
There are also a fair number of organism that reproduce sexually but have a sex ...
6
votes
1answer
129 views
Would A Life Cycle Involving Horizontal Gene Transfer Be Viable?
Horizontal gene transfer via retroviruses that change an organism's germ line DNA exist, even in humans, and account for a minority but not insignificant portion of the genomes of many, if not most, ...
2
votes
4answers
449 views
How can a one-gender humanoid species reproduce quickly?
Theoretical scenario question I came up with. Unrelated to anything, just a weird idea.
A humanoid species has evolved to appear to humans to be a human female. In fact they have bat-like wings which ...
18
votes
6answers
3k views
How would human anatomy differ if humans almost always had 2-4 children at a time?
Imagine that the average number of children born per birth without any artificial intervention was three (i.e. triplets were the norm) and that 98% of pregnancies gave rise to 2 to 4 children, with a ...
4
votes
4answers
104 views
Terminology for reproduction via co-opting other species' gametes/embryos
Consider a hypothetical species -- lets call them Exian for ease of reference -- that, besides the "normal" manner of reproduction (i.e. a male and female Exian produce gametes that fuse into a zygote)...
6
votes
2answers
157 views
Oogenesis similar to spermatogenesis
I think I have found a biological solution to prevent menopause. My Kepler Bb humanoids don't get more frail with old age so aging is not a cause of death for them. They can survive well past 100 ...
