It usually takes two snakes — a female and a male — to make a litter of baby copperheads. But research now shows that copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix) and their venomous cousins cottonmouths ...

When we talk of “single parents,” we refer to a family that has only a mother (or sometimes only a father) raising the offspring. But there’s another way to be a single parent — when an individual ...

Life found a way at Smithsonian’s National Zoo, where a female Asian water dragon at the Reptile Discovery Center underwent facultative parthenogenesis—that is, she reproduced and contributed a ...

An Asian water dragon hatched from an egg at the Smithsonian National Zoo, and her keepers were shocked. Why? Her mother had never been with a male water dragon. Through genetic testing, zoo ...

Last winter, two female Komodo dragons at separate zoos in England gave their keepers big surprises. With no contact from any male, each of the giant lizards laid a clutch of viable eggs, some of ...

Root-knot nematodes (RKN) of the genus Meloidogyne are biotrophic plant parasites of major agricultural importance, which exhibit very variable modes of reproduction, from classical amphimixis to ...

Wild female pit vipers can reproduce without a male, suggesting that virgin births may take place in nature far more than before thought. Asexual reproduction is common among invertebrates — that is, ...

The California condor is one of the rarest birds in the world, but now it seems that nature is giving it an unexpected leg-up. Scientists have discovered two condor chicks that were born from ...

Some female animals can reproduce without males through a process called parthenogenesis. Here are a few examples. Aphids: These tiny insects use parthenogenesis to produce live offspring quickly, ...

Meet the grasshopper that has reproduced asexually for a quarter of a million years—without acquiring undue numbers of harmful mutations. The findings contrast with previous studies of cloning in ...

Your support goes further this holiday season. When you buy an annual membership or give a one-time contribution, we’ll give a membership to someone who can’t afford access. It’s a simple way for you ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Of all the fascinating processes in nature, reproduction may be it's crowning achievement, and parthenogenesis is perhaps the most unusual and unique form. Translated from its Latin ...