Reproduction

I've been reading a book about the evolution of key species that changed the world, and one of the things that struck me was the variety of methods for producing offspring.

It's a salutary lesson for sex-obsessed humans to reflect that this isn't the only way to reproduce the species.  There is the phenomenon of parthenogenesis.  Some species are self-fertile and don't need a male to reproduce at all.  Now there's a feminist motif if ever I saw one.

Some species lay eggs, and some of those are soft and laid in water.  Some land species worked out a way to keep the essential fluids the embryo needs when they made their move onto land.  They lay eggs with hard shells that protect the growing young from the weather and desiccation.  Eggs contain their own food supply, and are a brilliant invention.

There are birds that hatch eggs at different intervals, and some where the younger siblings are eaten by the older, stronger ones.  And then there's oophagy.  The live young hatch inside their mother and the biggest eat the smallest.

Looking at the animal kingdom is a great way to challenge human sex-centred culture.  How will we deal with an alien species where infanticide is common and accepted?  Where children aren't worshipped as they are in our current society.  Is this the ultimate expression of Darwin's "survival of the fittest"?  Perhaps this produces a more robust species than humans, one that would out-compete us.

There's nothing like looking to the animal kingdom to challenge the human-centric way we see the world.  Maybe the aliens we meet might be parthenogenic females practising oophagy.  That would give the lie to the idea of the weaker sex.