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ZetaTalk: Sexual Variations
Note: written Oct 15, 1996.


Bisexuality is the most common form of sexuality in the Universe, emerging due to the obvious - if one wants to form a new genetic entity from various DNA samples, mixing two DNA samples together will do it. In fact, any life form that does not combine into new variations will die out, unable to withstand the environmental variables that it sooner or later encounters. Inbred gene pools likewise are susceptible to disease or heritable diseases, as zoo keepers are acutely aware. This ability of the mixing gene pool to survive is the reason that DNA most often has two strands. Those life forms that had but a single strand did not survive to reproduce, and life forms with more than two strands were prone to genetic flaws during the parting and re-merging phase of conception. Thus bisexuality is the most common form, followed by the ability of the life form to clone itself.

The Earth is an example of the great number of sexual variations that can emerge. But whether the new offspring is the result of an intense and devoted coupling, pairing for life, or a casual encounter where insects swarm or fish mingle their deposit on the bottom of the pond, the process is the same - two DNA halves meeting to make a whole. How the life form arranges that varies, on Earth, from egg and sperm external to the body as in fish eggs to internal until fully formed as with most mammals, from singular to mass numbers of offspring during each mating depending on the survival chances, from resulting from a distinct coupling to resulting from a promiscuous arrangement such as whales often engage in to multiply the chance of conception. The Earth has a number of life forms, such as earthworms, that can clone themselves when opportunities for bisexuality do not arise. Thus, the additional variations that the Universe would present to man would not be that surprising. Size, shape, longevity of the coupling, and timing of mating or frequency of the routine are factors related to what the life form found was most successful during its evolution.

The frequently seen sexual characteristic of male bulk versus female delicacy, so common in mammals on Earth, is not the most common arrangement throughout the Universe. Large males have emerged on Earth due to their tendency to win the right to mate with the available females, thus passing their genes along. Many of your insects have the female huge, such as the queen bee, her size reflecting her focused vocation. Size of the male matters not as mating is done once, as a result of a swarm. Throughout the Universe, the most common size and shape arrangement is a similar size, due to the fact that most life forms are from water planets and conception occurs outside the body. Where life is carried inside the body, the female form reflects this. The extremes of this vary from birth when barely formed, as with your Kangaroos, to birth when fully formed, as with most of your mammals.

Male strength and aggression versus female composure, common in life forms that have emerged on Earth, are not the only arrangement that mankind is aware of. Some insects, such as the Praying Mantis have the female massive and aggressive with the male small enough to become a snack for the female after the mating, which usually occurs. Land creatures on Earth have emerged with the males aggressive and the females passive due in part to the number of carnivores on Earth. Males who exploded with rage when their territory was challenged and with great strength and resolve during the battle protected the females they had impregnated from becoming a meal, and thus passed their genes along. Throughout the Universe, aggression differences in the sexes most often tips towards the female being more aggressive, as she must snatch all available food for the eggs or young she is about to produce.

On Earth, mating frequency is most often related to seasons, the young making the mad scramble to attain enough size to survive during the warm summer months. In life forms where the young are eliminated, frequency is almost constant, as with humans where the young are hairless and immobile. In other parts of the Universe, or on other planets with longer orbits, seasons would either not be a factor or long hibernation of the life form might ensue. There are life forms in the Universe that have sex only once, on average, during their life time and then produce a large number of offspring. On a planet with harsh living conditions, where tender young life had a narrow window of time in which to scramble toward adulthood, mating and rearing young becomes an intense focus, where all members of the life form do little else.

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