Friday, October 10, 2008

Second Virgin Shark Gives Birth

Whoah!

Hot off the AP Wire is the story of the second shark to give birth in captivity without the errmm... "help" of a male shark.

"RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Scientists have confirmed the second case of a "virgin birth" in a shark.

In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male.

The first documented case of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, among sharks involved a pup born to a hammerhead at an Omaha, Neb., zoo.

"This first case was no fluke," Demian Chapman, a shark scientist and lead author of the second study, said in a statement. "It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion."



Pretty staggering what Earth's creatures are capable of.

2 comments:

Carla said...

That's amazing! A coincidence that it happened in Virginia??? (Corny I know).

Jackson Nash said...

Ah ha ha ha!
Didn't even think of it. You genius, you!