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#QueerAnimals

Stick Insects: Solo Success

Some animals can reproduce without a partner. The Timema stick insect shows that this is not just a rare exception.

Some groups of these stick insects have consisted only of females for over a million years. They reproduce through parthenogenesis: offspring develop from unfertilised eggs. No males, no mating – and yet the species survives.

Other groups use both sexual and asexual reproduction. Timema stick insects show that, in nature, there are many ways to reproduce – and they are not always binary.

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