# Do mules reproduce?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mules-reproduce/491078>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 28, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mules-reproduce/491078 "2009-03-28T10:04:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mules-reproduce/491078/21 "2009-03-28T22:15:53Z")

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What happens in the fertile mules that make them able to reproduce?

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mules-reproduce/491078/22 "2009-03-28T23:24:56Z")

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Just by chance, the right chromosomes/genes line up to give them working reproductive organs. Because there is a chromosomal mis-match between horses and donkeys that doesn’t usually happen, but every so often it does.

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**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mules-reproduce/491078/23 "2009-03-28T23:43:22Z")

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I got to Wikisurfing the other day (by way of the [bedbugs thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10964866&postcount=64)) and came across a few even weirder ways to make offspring than mules ([hybrids](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_(biology)#Examples_of_hybrid_animals)): [parthenogenesis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis)and [gynogenesis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis#Gynogenesis). Bedbugs themselves are apparently obligate [violent rapists](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedbug#Reproduction). I had no idea such things existed.

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mules-reproduce/491078/24 "2009-03-29T02:53:53Z")

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> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> I’m an idiot.

But can you reproduce?

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mules-reproduce/491078/25 "2009-03-29T03:18:30Z")

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No, which is why work on the Resurrection Hub continues.

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