Thursday, August 20, 2009

[ricezrqm] Tribbles

On Star Trek, tribbles are "born pregnant". Assuming sexual reproduction, it must be possible for a male tribble to impregnate a yet unborn female fetus tribble. Conversely, it might be possible for a mother of a male fetus tribble to use the sperm of her unborn son to impregnate another female. That's some weird sex. The reproductive system of the tribble embryo/fetus develops before birth (in contrast to humans, whose reproductive system is not even fully developed until years after birth. )

Why not? Are there real animals on Earth that do this? If resources such as food suddenly become plentiful, it might be advantageous to breed extremely quickly. The evolutionary disadvantage is the offspring is passing on its genes before it is known whether the offspring will be viable outside the womb.

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