Can one individual be used to repopulate an entire species?
An evil scientist has engineered a plague that would kill anyone with an xy chromosome pair. This plague has systemicatically spread throughout the planet, killing all males within the population. All men on the planet, including those in utero, have been wiped out.
Many have blamed the plague on God punishing humanity for their sins, while others look for some logical cause. In either case, economic collapse, instability, starvation, and emotional pain and suffering has resulted around the world. One man has survived due to his genes, and is resistant to the plague that has wiped out other males.
After a number of years, an organization has risen to power and becomes a source of stablility in the world. It has located and captured the last living male and plans to use him to save the human race. This specimen is about 25 years of age in reasonably healthy condition. After putting him into artificially induced coma, they have used technology to repopulate the species through in - vitro fertilization.
Can the population survive long term when all offspring originate from one father? And after taking into account miscarriages and stillbirths, how many offspring can this individual have?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/132450. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
0 answers
0 comment threads