I could have necro'd an old thread for this, but I chose instead to start a new topic......
From what I understand, the entire concept that there are four genders in the Andorian species is based solely on a throw-away line by Commander Data stating Andorian marriages require four individuals. How that automatically equates to there being four genders is beyond me. Perhaps it's simply tradition based on ancient survival needs in which one male would go hunt for food while the other remained behind to protect the family. And of course having two females to care for the children means they have a better survival rate. This was so ingrained into Andorian society and religion it remains true even into modern times.
I for one cannot accept the idea that any species could evolve to require the mating of four individuals, the joining of four separate genetic sources, to produce one offspring. Especially for a humanoid species, for we are all "Sargon's Children". And I really don't want to think about the mechanics of how that would happen, physically.
The other night, there was a nature show on TV talking about ants, specifically a type of ant that must cross-bred with another type of ant to produce drones. This got me thinking......
Suppose Andorians are actually two inter-related species, let's call them alphas and betas. Andorians can tell alphas from betas, but the differences are too subtle for outsiders to see (smell??). There are alpha females with genetic code AA and alpha males with genetic code Ab. Likewise there are beta females BB and beta males Ba. As males can (normally) only pass on the dominate gene (A not b), alpha couples can only produce alpha females, and beta couples produce beta females. When an alpha male mates with a beta female, he passes his alpha gene when will become the non-dominate gene to the offspring, who would be a beta male. And vice versa for a beta male with an alpha female, creating an alpha male. Ergo, for the survival of both species, they must both bred to produce females and cross-bred to produce males.
In the rare case when the non-dominate gene (b instead of A) is passed on, the resulting child of an alpha couple is an alpha male, but unfortunately these offspring are ALWAYS sterile and can never father the next generation. Likewise a alpha male / beta female creates a sterile beta female child, and vice versa for beta couples = sterile beta male or beta male / alpha female = sterile alpha female. In pre-industrial times, these situations were rare, perhaps once in five thousand births, but due to environmental effects, i.e. pollution and radiation, these sterile offspring are becoming more and more prevalent, as much as one in forty. Further, medical testing indicates that some males are unable to pass on the dominate gene at all, so all of their offspring will be sterile, bringing forth the fear that the species may become extinct if modern science can't reverse the trend.
So, what do you all think??
From what I understand, the entire concept that there are four genders in the Andorian species is based solely on a throw-away line by Commander Data stating Andorian marriages require four individuals. How that automatically equates to there being four genders is beyond me. Perhaps it's simply tradition based on ancient survival needs in which one male would go hunt for food while the other remained behind to protect the family. And of course having two females to care for the children means they have a better survival rate. This was so ingrained into Andorian society and religion it remains true even into modern times.
I for one cannot accept the idea that any species could evolve to require the mating of four individuals, the joining of four separate genetic sources, to produce one offspring. Especially for a humanoid species, for we are all "Sargon's Children". And I really don't want to think about the mechanics of how that would happen, physically.
The other night, there was a nature show on TV talking about ants, specifically a type of ant that must cross-bred with another type of ant to produce drones. This got me thinking......
Suppose Andorians are actually two inter-related species, let's call them alphas and betas. Andorians can tell alphas from betas, but the differences are too subtle for outsiders to see (smell??). There are alpha females with genetic code AA and alpha males with genetic code Ab. Likewise there are beta females BB and beta males Ba. As males can (normally) only pass on the dominate gene (A not b), alpha couples can only produce alpha females, and beta couples produce beta females. When an alpha male mates with a beta female, he passes his alpha gene when will become the non-dominate gene to the offspring, who would be a beta male. And vice versa for a beta male with an alpha female, creating an alpha male. Ergo, for the survival of both species, they must both bred to produce females and cross-bred to produce males.
In the rare case when the non-dominate gene (b instead of A) is passed on, the resulting child of an alpha couple is an alpha male, but unfortunately these offspring are ALWAYS sterile and can never father the next generation. Likewise a alpha male / beta female creates a sterile beta female child, and vice versa for beta couples = sterile beta male or beta male / alpha female = sterile alpha female. In pre-industrial times, these situations were rare, perhaps once in five thousand births, but due to environmental effects, i.e. pollution and radiation, these sterile offspring are becoming more and more prevalent, as much as one in forty. Further, medical testing indicates that some males are unable to pass on the dominate gene at all, so all of their offspring will be sterile, bringing forth the fear that the species may become extinct if modern science can't reverse the trend.
So, what do you all think??
