One of the longest-running franchises in anime history is Dragon Ball and one of the first alien races was the Namekians, in fact, their history is intertwined with the Saiyan and Cereal races over time. For example, Goku ended up fighting Piccolo, as his first big villain, and we all know that the Z Fighters ended up embracing Piccolo as their new friend and ally (as they would later do with other antagonists). These days, there are new Namekians trying to push their place in the franchise, this has caught the attention of the scientist Yudai Okuyama, who has given an explanation about its reproduction process.
Now in the official site of the franchise, an interview between the anime’s production team and Yudai Okuyama was shared which explains how the Namekian race has survived for centuries. **The beings of the namekian species are born from eggs and all are created by a common elder known as Saichoro, he serves as the original patriarchal. This older Namekian was almost like the matriarch of the race before her death left the job to Muri.
According to the scientist Yudai Okuyama, this evolutionary course is more similar to that of other living beings: “All the current Namekians of the planet Namek that we know of were born from Saichoro’s eggs, right? Isn’t it incredible? There are many other mature Namekians and yet they do not spread. Biologically speaking, the Namekians could be an example of a species where only one member of a group is capable of reproducing at all,” the scientist shared with the Dragon Ball team.
The explanation doesn’t stop there, Yudai continues, “Before Saichoro passed away, he himself appointed Muri to succeed him. In the case of a bee colony, if the queen dies, the colony will perish, so I think we can say that the bees and the namekians are not the same”. According to the scientist, its parallel on Earth is found in other living beings.
The strange origin of Piccolo in Dragon Ball
Okuyama compares the Namekian breeding process in Dragon Ball to that used by mole rats.. In case you didn’t know, these animals also live in colonies and are headed by a single matriarch. The female mates and gives birth to many mole rats, including other females, but these later generations are unable to reproduce.. This is because the matriarch begins to emit pheromones that prevent other females from ovulating and becoming pregnant. When the current matriarch dies another female in the colony is chosen who then starts emitting those pheromones and the cycle continues.
“Perhaps Saichoro emits some kind of pheromone that inhibits the reproductive abilities of the other members of the species,” says Okuyama. Clearly, the Namekians have a complicated history with breeding, but Dragon Ball’s run has kept things simple as best it can. The race has lost many of its inhabitants in the wars and no one can forget how many Namekians died at the hands of Frieza or the Saiyan race. New Namek is now the last estate keeping the Namekians whole and their matriarchs need to bolster the population if the race is to return to its glory days.
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