Video Transcript
All desert grassland whiptail
lizards are females. They produce new offspring when
their eggs develop into embryos, which happens without fertilization from a
male. What type of reproduction is this
an example of?
This question asks about a specific
species of lizard called the desert grassland whiptail lizard. This species is incredibly unique
because all of the organisms are female. Recall that for sexual
reproduction, both a male and a female organism are required. This is because sexual reproduction
requires gametes from both males and females, for example, sperm and egg cells,
respectively. In the case of the desert grassland
whiptail lizards, they are able to reproduce without fertilization from a male.
And you might recall that the
process of asexual reproduction only involves one parent. While this is typical of
microorganisms such as bacteria and yeast, there are very few examples of this in
animals. However, because the species of
lizard does not require two parents to reproduce, the desert grassland whiptail
lizard is an example of an animal that reproduces asexually. Therefore, to answer the question
“What type of reproduction is this an example of?” is asexual.
