Genetic diversity is essential to the survival of a species. It's easy enough to maintain if a species reproduces sexually; an egg and a sperm combine genetic material from two creatures into one, ...

Getting the job done. A female Asian water dragon (Physignathus cocincinus) produced a daughter (left) without the assistance of a male. Skip Brown/Smithsonian’s National Zoo An Asian water dragon ...

A baby shark has been born in a Chicago aquarium asexually, with her mother having not mated with any of the males present in her tank. A study published in the Journal of Fish Biology in November ...

In the framework of an international research project, a team of scientists have demonstrated for the first time that asexual reproduction can be successful in the long term. The animal they studied ...

Some animals can produce offspring from an unfertilized egg in an asexual reproduction process known as parthogenesis. When this is the standard process for a species it's said to be 'obligate' and ...

Does all the stress of finding a partner get you down? Do you ever wish you could just start a family of your own, with kids that looked just like you, but without all of the trouble of finding ...

Why are most organisms sexual? The question of why most species reproduce sexually and others reproduce asexually has stymied biologists for years (particularly since asexual reproduction has many ...

For most living things, sexual reproduction has proven the best overall strategy to perpetuate a species in the rough-and-tumble, unpredictable fray of natural selection. With two partners combining ...

While scientists have previously observed “virgin births” in vertebrates such as sharks, rays and reptiles – a reproductive strategy thought to aid survival during periods of isolation – this is the ...

An Asian water dragon hatched from an egg at the Smithsonian National Zoo, and her keepers were shocked. Why? Her mother had never been with a male water dragon. Through genetic testing, zoo ...