A Shark’s Virgin Birth
A SHARK (female) living in a Hungarian aquarium has just given birth without mating.
Says Director Attila Varga: “When I saw the baby shark lying on the bottom of the tank I thought it was a joke. I was amazed when I realised it was a real shark.
“The mother is very protective of her pup, but as soon as we can, marine biologists want to get a DNA sample from both.
“There has only ever been one other example of a virgin birth (parthenogenesis) at a zoo in America when a hammerhead shark had a pup that was killed by a stingray before keepers could remove it from its tank.
“It happened in 2000 but it was only last year that a study of the DNA was complete and indicated the pup was from a virgin birth.
And:
Director Varga added: “We are planning to build her a bigger tank, find her a male and then hopefully next time round she can have a baby properly.”
Posted: 15th, January 2008 | In: Strange But True Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
