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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil, and I'm Rob.

Do you think there are big differences between men and women, Neil?

Apart from the old stereotypes we sometimes hear, like that men can't express emotions?

I suppose biologically there are differences, Rob. I mean, men and women's bodies are different.

Right, and it takes both a man and a woman to make a baby.

Well, that's true in humans anyway, but in this programme we'll be hearing about creatures

in the wild where the classic boy meets girl love story doesn't apply.

Yes, we'll be meeting some female animals who don't need a male to make babies.

These creatures reproduce by pathogenesis, also called virgin birth.

This is the process where the female can reproduce without a mate,

the term used for an animal's sexual partner.

All animal species survive by making babies,

reproducing to make copies of themselves.

But amazingly, the female of some species can do it all by herself.

But before that it's time for my quiz question.

In Britain's Chester Zoo in 2006, Flora laid 11 eggs that developed into healthy babies.

Her zookeepers were mystified because Flora had only been kept with other females and had never

been near a male. But what type of animal was Flora? Was she A, a python?

B, a zebra shark, or C, a commodo dragon?

Well, pythons are pretty unusual creatures, so I'll say Flora was a python.

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