reproductive system of sprites revisited
Was talking about this a while ago -- my very loose, not-scientifically-accurate theory for both sprites and imps is that they both come from the same very distant ancestors. I feel like maybe following it back far enough they probably have ancestors in common with humans too but branched off at some earlier point, which vaguely explains how sprites are a liiittle bit monkey-like, with their climbing trees and the tail and their diet being mainly plant-based. Anyway, I think it makes sense to me that sprites and imps are both primates. But I'm pretty loose with the rules otherwise cuz primates come in all shapes and sizes and you can explain most things away by saying evolution caused it in this fictional fantasy world lol. So not gonna get bogged down with the details too much...
But it does keep making me think about the reproductive system on sprites with them being intersex As A Rule -- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28282768/ this article explains how certain "true hermaphrodite" mammals have been able to self-fertilise. There was a further one about the rabbit mentioned in that article https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2382355/ this mentioned that it was able to both fertilise other rabbits and auto-fertilise and deliver healthy young.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2520102/ bearing in mind I'm no scientist and I skimmed all these articles lol. My assumption is that sprites evolved to have ovotestes. Internal. They have pretty much whatever the midpoint is between penis and vagina pretty much I think. I believe this would be a smallish phalloclitoris with a vaginal opening behind/at its base.
Anyway ...
The other thing was menstrual cycles. I know sprites have one and I believe they are further apart and perhaps longer and even more soul-destroying than it is for humans. I'm not sure how far apart -- but even humans can have periods really far apart for health reasons etc so it still feels like it's in the realm of possibility for sprites to menstruate maybe once or twice a year, especially as they have much longer lives than humans.
I didn't think about like ... Feeding their young... I had it down that sprites are flat-ish chested but I guess they grow larger and do lactate if they give birth. Except the humble platypus and the echidna teach us that it's possible for mammals to also "sweat" milk from their mammary glands, and I had previously considered that sprites may lay eggs rather than birth live young, so... I'm leaning towards that...
That's about it for now I guess.