... An expert on the stingrays said it would have been impossible for Charlotte to have mated with one of the five small sharks that share her tank, despite news reports suggesting that was the case after (Team ECCO executive director Brenda) Ramer joked about a possible interspecies hookup.
The ... process of parthenogenesis (is) a type of asexual reproduction in which offspring develop from unfertilized eggs, meaning there is no genetic contribution by a male.
The mostly rare phenomenon can occur in some insects, fish, amphibians, birds and reptiles, but not mammals. Documented examples have included
California condors, Komodo dragons and
yellow-bellied water snakes.
Kady Lyons, a research scientist at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta who is not involved with the North Carolina aquarium, said Charlotte’s pregnancy is the only documented example she’s aware of for this species, round stingrays.
But Lyons isn’t at all shocked. Other kinds of sharks, skates and rays — a trio of animals often grouped together — have had these kinds of pregnancies in human care.
“I’m not surprised, because nature finds a way of having this happen,” she said.
To be clear, Lyons said, these animals are not cloning themselves. Instead, a female’s egg fuses with another cell, triggers cell division and leads to the creation of an embryo.
The cell that fuses with the egg is known as a polar body. They are produced when a female is creating an egg but usually aren’t used. ...
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