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Hey beardlovers, so I'm taking over Earth Unplugged today because, well, they asked
me too. Not, it's a cool channel, I'm not losing my integrity, I don't do what everyone
tells me to. I just like the channel! They ask a lot of weird questions like 'do
animals fart?', 'how big is space?', and 'what would happen if you were swallowed by a whale?'
and that got me thinking... If a whale farted in space would you hear
it? Probably not. Would you smell it? Whoever smelled it dealt it, so no I wouldn't. I wouldn't
fart. Then it got me thinking
How do you make clones? Now obviously my cloning machine is strictly
patented, but know-it-all clone might know how they do it the sciencey way. Hey know-it-all
clone. Hey me.
No, you are not me. How do they do it? Follow me on a journey of discovery
That sounds really annoying, can't you just. Oh. He's gone.
This is the nine-banded armadillo. That's a three banded armadillo.
Fine. This is the nine-banded armadillo. They've been doing the same thing for millennia, they
split their fertilised egg into four genetically identical quadruplets, or haploid clones.
Pfft. Four clones. Amateurs. Follow me.
Oh. Let's go that way then. This is a Timema stick insect.
That's a stick, that is literally a stick I saw you break off a tree.
Fine. This is the timema stick insect. They've been asexually reproducing for millions of
years creating a whole new species of clones. No sex for a million years. Tough break
You should know. I live with my girlfriend.
Asexual reproduction that ancient is crazy rare. To survive genes have to be future-proof
in a changing world. The all female whiptail lizard has to have double the normal set of
chromosomes for their clone offspring to have enough genetic diversity to be ready for anything,
though they still need the good stuff for egg laying.
That's a lot of lesbian lizard sex. There's a sentence I never thought I'd say. Well,
up until right before I said it -- I knew I was going to say it then. And I will know
now until forever that I said it. I might say it again someday. Where are you going?
Some sharks also partake in this *** birth. Though they have sex, sometimes they turn
on the clone production if they're struggling to find a mate.
Ah the eternal struggle. Reminds me of college. You're a sad pathetic man.
Lonely man. Thanks know-it-all clone. Hey, did you know
that most commercial bananas are clones of each other. That's why they don't have any
seeds. I don't have any seeds? I'm a clone?
No wait. Ah I was going to throw him in the alligator pit anyway. He was bananas. Maybe
I'm bananas. I certainly am talking to myself a lot.
Anyway, subscribe to Earth Unplugged for more cool facts about the world. Or come find me
over at Wheezy Waiter, or my other project The Good Stuff. Information in the doobly-doo.
My wink sting in case you didn't know that.