• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    I don’t know the case here, but in case anyone is interested, animals that can self-impregnate are said to be parthenogenetic.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis

    (Most animal classes in the animal kingdom have parthenogenetic species, but there are no known cases in mammals that have not been artificially induced.)

    • lolrightythen@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      4 months ago

      It’s weird, but it makes sense as a last ditch effort to bridge a population bottleneck. Just because we haven’t witnessed something doesn’t make it impossible.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        4 months ago

        I don’t mean to suggest it’s impossible. Clearly it is possible to artificially induce parthenogenesis in mammals because it has been done, although the offspring have not been healthy so far.