{"id":10557,"date":"2021-02-22T09:44:50","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T14:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/?p=10557"},"modified":"2021-02-22T09:44:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T14:44:50","slug":"cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/","title":{"rendered":"Cryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce \u2018asexually\u2019 \u2014 without males"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author: Dr. Root Gorelick – Professor, Biology, Carleton University<\/a><\/p>\n

Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species need sperm in order to induce completion of egg nucleus development, but then never use the sperm\u2019s DNA. I describe how this self-sexual reproduction occurs in many animals, including some insects, molluscs, fish, amphibians and reptiles, but not mammals.<\/p>\n

People have long understood that ejaculate is needed for human pregnancy, but did not understand much more. In the late 1600s, the Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who was one of the first microbiologists, thought\u00a0his own sperm were parasites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Dr. Root Gorelick – Professor, Biology, Carleton University Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species need sperm in order to induce completion of egg nucleus development, but then never use the sperm\u2019s DNA. I describe how this self-sexual reproduction occurs in many animals, including some insects, molluscs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce \u2018asexually\u2019 \u2014 without males - Department of Biology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Author: Dr. Root Gorelick - Professor, Biology, Carleton University Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"leahtannahill\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/\",\"name\":\"Cryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce \u2018asexually\u2019 \u2014 without males - Department of Biology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-22T14:44:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-22T14:44:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#\/schema\/person\/b075b0f77733fc685d166c0bd3ac295e\"},\"description\":\"Author: Dr. Root Gorelick - Professor, Biology, Carleton University Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/category\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Cryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce \u2018asexually\u2019 \u2014 without males\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/\",\"name\":\"Department of Biology\",\"description\":\"Carleton University\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#\/schema\/person\/b075b0f77733fc685d166c0bd3ac295e\",\"name\":\"leahtannahill\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/31c79f85031b40c406743bf859bd87c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/31c79f85031b40c406743bf859bd87c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"leahtannahill\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce \u2018asexually\u2019 \u2014 without males - Department of Biology","description":"Author: Dr. Root Gorelick - Professor, Biology, Carleton University Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"leahtannahill","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/","name":"Cryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce \u2018asexually\u2019 \u2014 without males - Department of Biology","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-22T14:44:50+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-22T14:44:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#\/schema\/person\/b075b0f77733fc685d166c0bd3ac295e"},"description":"Author: Dr. Root Gorelick - Professor, Biology, Carleton University Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/category\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Cryptic sex: How female and unisexual animals reproduce \u2018asexually\u2019 \u2014 without males"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/","name":"Department of Biology","description":"Carleton University","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#\/schema\/person\/b075b0f77733fc685d166c0bd3ac295e","name":"leahtannahill","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/31c79f85031b40c406743bf859bd87c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/31c79f85031b40c406743bf859bd87c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"leahtannahill"}}]}},"acf":{"Post Thumbnail Icon":"","Post Thumbnail":{"ID":10558,"id":10558,"title":"meiosis","filename":"meiosis.jpg","filesize":57199,"url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis.jpg","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2021\/cryptic-sex-how-female-and-unisexual-animals-reproduce-asexually-without-males\/meiosis\/","alt":"","author":"40","description":"","caption":"","name":"meiosis","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":10557,"date":"2021-02-22 14:44:36","modified":"2021-02-22 14:44:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":600,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis-160x160.jpg","thumbnail-width":160,"thumbnail-height":160,"medium":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis-240x240.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":240,"medium_large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis.jpg","medium_large-width":600,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis-400x400.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":400,"gallery-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis-300x230.jpg","gallery-thumb-width":300,"gallery-thumb-height":230,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis.jpg","1536x1536-width":600,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis.jpg","2048x2048-width":600,"2048x2048-height":600,"banner":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis.jpg","banner-width":600,"banner-height":600,"people":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis-200x200.jpg","people-width":200,"people-height":200,"post-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis-300x230.jpg","post-thumb-width":300,"post-thumb-height":230,"rotator-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis.jpg","rotator-image-width":600,"rotator-image-height":600,"video-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis-360x360.jpg","video-thumb-width":360,"video-thumb-height":360,"cms-newsletter-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/meiosis-200x200.jpg","cms-newsletter-image-width":200,"cms-newsletter-image-height":200}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10559,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10557\/revisions\/10559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}