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Cloning In The Animal Kingdom

Posted by Zonk on from the beware-the-swarm dept.

tanveer1979 writes "The New Scientist is carrying an interesting article on cloning in nature." From the article: "The ant Wasmannia Auropunctata, which is native to Central and South America but has spread into the US and beyond, has opted for a unique stand-off in the battle of the sexes. Both queens and males reproduce by making genetically identical copies of themselves - so males and females seem to have entirely separate gene pools. Conventional reproduction happens only to produce workers. This is the first instance in the animal kingdom where males reproduce exclusively by cloning, though male honeybees do it occasionally." National Geographic is also carrying the story.

9 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Ants in the Pants by ViX44 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I find it interesting that they speak as though the male ants had an intelligence that decided to modify its genes as described. I tried changing my genes and it didn't help me run faster, jump higher, or gain the ability to remember where I put my keys. Usually, I don't find those bad boys until I change my jeans.

  2. Does Cloning Help...? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Whether they clone or not doesn't concern me. They are all equal in my eyes when I'm holding the Raid can.

  3. Reproduction through cloning by Faust7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is the first instance in the animal kingdom where males reproduce exclusively by cloning

    Are you kidding? How do you think Slashdotters reproduce?

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
    1. Re:Reproduction through cloning by MPHellwig · · Score: 3, Funny

      "How do you think Slashdotters reproduce?"

      There is no way you can have the words: "think", "slashdotters" and "reproduce" in 1 sentence without having at least 1 impossibility.

  4. Obvious first though from certain "parties" by sabernet · · Score: 4, Funny

    They are an afront to Jesus and the holy book and thy sinning, cloning, ants that dare copulate in an unnatural way must be cast down to the lair of Satan.

  5. Re: Ants in the Pants by jcgf · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember back in the '80s we used to modify our jeans with a pair of scissors. That didn't help us run faster, jump higher, or gain the ability to remember where we put our keys either. Oh well 2 down, ininitely many more to go.

  6. Here in the mechanics' garage... by gardyloo · · Score: 4, Funny

    "This apparently gave males both the time and the means to evolve a counterattack--converting some of the workers into males."

    Huh. Around here, we hang up posters of nekkid queen ants. Oooooh, those unarticulated segements! Kind of makes you want to pupate, doesn't it?

  7. Here come the christians... by kd5ujz · · Score: 4, Funny

    But..but..they will not have a soul.

    --
    -William
    God is everything science has yet to explain.
  8. Re:small case species by lav-chan · · Score: 4, Funny

    You mispunctuated 'it's', you misspelt 'auropunctata', you forgot a comma before 'not', you used a comma to link two independent clauses, you forgot a comma before 'though', and you didn't end your second sentence (ellipses aren't end punctuation marks, although that's probably arguable). No chance in hell you would catch that, though.