to a Shark?? WTF??
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2008/10/virgin-shark-bi.html
The first time it happened, scientists thought it might be a fluke. A female hammerhead shark residing at a zoo in Omaha, Neb., had not been in contact with male sharks for at least three years and yet experienced a "virgin birth." She delivered a single pup.
But it has happened again, according to today's issue of the Journal of Fish Biology. This time, a blacktip shark, similar to the one pictured above, had spent nearly her entire eight years at either the Virginia Aquarium without any male companionship from her kind. And again, in what some religions might call a miracle, and what science calls "parthenogenesis," she produced a single pup. Using DNA fingerprinting techniques used in human paternity tests, scientists have determined that in this case, as well as the hammerhead in Omaha, the solitary offspring contained no genetic material from a father.
"It's reasonable to assume that female sharks can do this on occasion," said Demian Chapman, a shark scientist with the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University in New York. "I'm sure this happens in the wild, but haven't been able to prove it yet. There's no reason that keeping a shark in captivity would cause a fundamental change in the reproductive system."
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2008/10/virgin-shark-bi.html
The first time it happened, scientists thought it might be a fluke. A female hammerhead shark residing at a zoo in Omaha, Neb., had not been in contact with male sharks for at least three years and yet experienced a "virgin birth." She delivered a single pup.
But it has happened again, according to today's issue of the Journal of Fish Biology. This time, a blacktip shark, similar to the one pictured above, had spent nearly her entire eight years at either the Virginia Aquarium without any male companionship from her kind. And again, in what some religions might call a miracle, and what science calls "parthenogenesis," she produced a single pup. Using DNA fingerprinting techniques used in human paternity tests, scientists have determined that in this case, as well as the hammerhead in Omaha, the solitary offspring contained no genetic material from a father.
"It's reasonable to assume that female sharks can do this on occasion," said Demian Chapman, a shark scientist with the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University in New York. "I'm sure this happens in the wild, but haven't been able to prove it yet. There's no reason that keeping a shark in captivity would cause a fundamental change in the reproductive system."
