why is AUG the initiation codon?

Question

Is there any reason why AUG is the initiation codon ?Why is there a need for an initiation codon ? Can't translation start with different codons?

Answer 1

So in reality- AUG is not always the start codon, but any codon that codes do Methionine (abbreviated Met) . it has more to do with the way it is recognized by tRNA, and the fact that this specific codon distinguishes tRNA from elongating instead of initiating.

A more complex explanation found online:

In this respect it's less a question of "why AUG" than "why this specific initiator tRNA", the answer being that it's got certain sequence elements and modifications that distinguish it from the elongating tRNAs which bind elongation factors and hence are targeted to the ribosomal A and B sites instead of the ribosomal P site (with function being dependent on form, basically it's shaped to set up transcription rather than to elongate an existing nascent chain polypeptide).