Re:Ants Seem to Defy Biology: They Lay Eggs That Hatch into ...
by rsynnott on Friday September 19, 2025 @06:27PM
(#45307488)
Well, no, I’m actually surprised that whoever wrote the Old Testament _was_ up enough on their biology (or at least aligned with biology, however accidentally) to realise that most animals reproduce sexually. This certainly wasn’t the conventional view in the Greek world, say, nor was it in the West until the 18th century or so.
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Re:Ants Seem to Defy Biology: They Lay Eggs That Hatch into ...
by giveita on Friday September 19, 2025 @07:32PM
(#45308064)
What was this view exactly? They would have know their pets and farm animals reproduced sexually. I guess it isn't a leap to think all mammals? So what animals did they think did not?
Re:Ants Seem to Defy Biology: They Lay Eggs That Hatch into ...
by aetherson on Friday September 19, 2025 @08:28PM
(#45308484)
Mice, flies, vermin of various kinds that seemed able to show up anywhere from no obvious parents.
Re:Ants Seem to Defy Biology: They Lay Eggs That Hatch into ...
by rsynnott on Saturday September 20, 2025 @05:54AM
(#45311910)
So, we tend to think that it’s just common sense that most animals reproduce sexually (actually I think most people would assume that _all_ animals do; in fact, as with most things, there are edge cases), but, well, to an extent that’s because we already know that. The historical view was a bit different: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_generation
This isn’t even the only weird idea that people used to have about reproduction; there’s also stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnacle_goose_myth