How do aliens... breed?

[dazzle231]

Odd topic...

[Melamiss]

i know, right? i started it, but i was a curios human... lol! I LOVE ALIEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHNS!!! (*blush* go carried away but aliens rock!)

[Donnie PEACHES]

Andalites are the only species on the list that breed in a similar way to humans--there is long history of the males fighting to the death for their mates and dominating females by means of physical violence. Sexual selection is imposed on both genders, but male selection was obviously more important at one point in this species' history.

It is not hard to figure out; brightly colored fur, such extreme sexual dimorphism, and a cultural paradigm regarding females as "weak" are clear indicators of this type of behavior in a species' recent past. Although Andalite mating behavior has changed much over thousands upon thousands of years, females are still viewed as poor leaders, and males still experience violent tendencies, mostly because cultural rules still follow some old ideals and do not encourage the species' evolution (like with humans).

In other words, the sexual past of these aliens is a very violent one. Andalites are still struggling with the negative ramifications of their ancestor's sexual behavior (like humans are).

Hork-Bajir do not have a unique breeding process. They are reptilian creatures that practice monogamy. They have live births, usually one child per pregnancy. Like most Earth creatures, they secrete scents to attract mates. Some Hork-Bajir females carry a unique genetic trait that allows for greater intelligence. Because this trait requires two copies of the allele to manifest, only these rare Hork-Bajir females are capable of human-like intelligence. For those of you who do not know, females have two X chromosomes. Males have an X chromosome and a Y chromosome. The Y chromosome contains significantly less information than the X chromosome; the Y chromosome mostly contains information relevant to sexual development. To use an Earth example, human females are rarely colorblind. The colorblind gene is not dominant, so if a female (XX) has only one chromosome containing the colorblind gene, and the other chromosome contains the perfect-sight gene, the colorblind trait will not manifest. However, if a male (XY) has the colorblind gene on his X chromosome, the trait will manifest, because his Y chromosome only contains information relevant to his maleness. In cats, the "orange" trait requires two alleles to manifest, explaining the nonexistence of male calico cats.

But you weren't asking about any of that, were you? You were asking specifically about the reproductive parts of these aliens. Which is a perfectly reasonably scientific inquiry. But Miss Applegate would never describe these parts in detail (even though she was an obvious giant nerd), because she knows that the naughty humans would TOTALLY take it the wrong way (fanfiction), and that's not appropriate conduct for a children's series. Children's books are supposed to be educational; they are supposed to be filled with metaphors related to "the human experience" and or encouraging tales of people overcoming their adversaries.

[Moka-Ithsilla-Adromeda]

Wow, sure someone knows alot of things

[Donnie PEACHES]

Maybe. Maybe I'm just a moron. Anything's possible. You should use your internet connection to find out.

[Moondust]

Googling how aliens breed...
Heh.

[Donnie PEACHES]

I was referring to your googling the evolutionary history of humanity, the way in which genes are expressed in Earth creatures, and or how science fiction writers use their craft as a medium to educate young nerds in socio-political issues, but if alien sex is what you're looking for I'm sure humans have plenty of websites about that, too.

[Moondust]

What even makes you think I want to know about .... Eugh, what you said.

I find it discugsting....

And K.A Applegate used devine insperation to write her books, not that she had crafted it.

[Donnie PEACHES]

...you mean "disgusting?"

I do not understand. Are alleles disgusting, or is the evolutionary history of humanity disgusting? Or are you referring to sexual organs? I find it rather odd that humans find sex so disgusting, since it is the sole reason for their existence.

[Galanor Rosewind]

Most humans don't find it disgusting. In fact, most are simply obsessed with the idea of - if not procreation - fornication. It's the rare few, like myself, that find the idea off-putting.

[Moondust]

I find it all repulsive, and I wish I hadn't come to exisance by those means.

[Donnie PEACHES]

Most humans don't find it disgusting. In fact, most are simply obsessed with the idea of - if not procreation - fornication. It's the rare few, like myself, that find the idea off-putting.

All humans seem to hate sex. Even people who have tons of sex use euphemisms for their own sexual organs as vulgar insults. Most American insults mean, quite literally, "go have sex."

There was a time when even discussing sex intellectually was considered taboo. But without sex, there would not be as much genetic variation, and species would be vulnerable to disease. It is part of what makes life on Earth so interesting to scientists. It creates drift, change.

[Galanor Rosewind]

However, if that were true, there would be many fewer humans on this planet. If nobody wanted to do it except when they needed to, there wouldn't be so many rapes, teen pregnancies, and other such events, and the population, while it would not be so genetically diverse, would probably be able to sustain itself better. There would be less confusion. Not to mention less strain on the environment.

[Moondust]

Yeah, that is such a good point...

[Donnie PEACHES]

NEED is different than LIKE. There are a myriad of social pressures encouraging people to take on different sexual roles. It wouldn't matter though, because humans have no choice but to mate, they can only choose how they conduct themselves. The need is too strong. Google bonobos (pan pancius), our closest living relative.

If we reproduced asexually, we'd all be dead by now. Our genetic variation allows us to adapt to changing environments quickly and fight against evolving microbes. Use that google to view some studies where asexually reproducing creatures are pitted against sexually reproducing creatures in an environment filled with unfamiliar bacteria. Surprisingly, there are a lot of studies fitting that very specific trope, because a lot of people have had this exact same conversation.

How do you know it would solve the population problem? Many asexually reproducing creatures do not do so by choice. How do you know we wouldn't kill each other faster than we could replicate ourselves? It is counter-productive to hate something that is so vital to your own existence.