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Article: Biology: Jealousy as a Way of Life
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 24, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Is jealousy enough of an incentive to keep a species alive and
kicking through the eons?
Yes.
Zoologists at the University of Texas in Austin have reached
something like that conclusion while trying to answer one of the
minor mysteries of evolutionary biology.
There are a few species of animals that are all female and
reproduce asexually - that is, without acquiring genetic material
from males. These so-called gynogenetic species, however, do have to
"mate"; not in order to get DNA, but because they need sperm as a
stimulant to initiate development of their own clonally produced
embryos. They acquire that sperm from males of closely related
species.
The question is: What's in it for ...