Asexual reproduction facts for kids
Asexual reproduction is reproduction without mating.
In this form of reproduction, a single organism or cell makes a copy of itself. The genes of the original and its copy will be the same, except for rare mutations. They are clones.
The main process of asexual reproduction is mitosis. This type of reproduction is common among some single-cell organisms, for example, Amoeba.
Many plants also reproduce asexually, for example by means of runners.
The individual zooids in a particular coral or bryozoan are usually genetically identical. They are formed by asexual reproduction of the first individual to arrive in a place. One whole order of the rotifers, the bdelloid rotifers, has no sexual reproduction.
Many types of living things have a double cycle. At one stage they have sexual reproduction, at another they simply multiply by splitting or producing eggs which develop without fertilization (aphids). All the daughters of the honey bee develop from unfertilized eggs. So, asexual reproduction is common in many forms of life.
Images for kids
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The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae reproducing by budding
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Vegetative plantlets of mother-of-thousands, Bryophyllum daigremontianum (Kalanchoe daigremontiana)
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Linckia guildingi "comet", a starfish regrowing from a single arm
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Zebra Shark
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Aphid giving birth to live young from an unfertilized egg
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Desert grassland whiptail lizard
See also
In Spanish: Reproducción asexual para niños
