Post by Travis on Jan 14, 2008 13:21:25 GMT -1
Shark's virgin birth
A Hungarian aquarium is celebrating after its lone female shark produced a pup without ever having come into contact with a male shark.
The mother, a White-tipped reef shark named Ibolya by staff, was born at the Nyiregyhaza Centre seven years ago.
Director Attila Varga said: "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.
"But our baby is not only the first time it's happened here in Europe, but it's the first time a pup born asexually is known to have survived."
But the new arrival, while boosting visitor numbers, has caused problems for the marina because its shark tank is not big enough for two - and the managers do not want to give up the baby.
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."
...and this isn't the first time.....
From the San Francisco Chronicle (23rd May 2007):
A female hammerhead shark was mysteriously born at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in December 2001, in a tank that held three adult, female hammerheads but no males.
Although the three females had been caught before they reached sexual maturity and held in captivity for more than three years, researchers initially thought one of them had stored sperm from a male shark before fertilizing an egg. But the team -- which included scientists at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, Queen's University Belfast and the Omaha zoo -- determined that the baby shark's genetic makeup perfectly matched one of the females in the tank, with no sign of a male parent.
Nova Southeastern's Guy Harvey Research Institute director Mahmood Shivji -- one of the paper's authors -- said he and his colleagues determined that a byproduct formed when sharks produce eggs, known as a sister polar body, had fused with an unfertilized egg to produce the baby shark, whose DNA had only half as much genetic variability as the mother.
"Yes, indeed this is a virgin birth," Shivji said in an interview.
What do we make of this?
I distinctly seem to recall that the bible makes several references to the son of God being partial to a 'tuna & mayo in brown'!! ;D
A Hungarian aquarium is celebrating after its lone female shark produced a pup without ever having come into contact with a male shark.
The mother, a White-tipped reef shark named Ibolya by staff, was born at the Nyiregyhaza Centre seven years ago.
Director Attila Varga said: "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.
"But our baby is not only the first time it's happened here in Europe, but it's the first time a pup born asexually is known to have survived."
But the new arrival, while boosting visitor numbers, has caused problems for the marina because its shark tank is not big enough for two - and the managers do not want to give up the baby.
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."
...and this isn't the first time.....
From the San Francisco Chronicle (23rd May 2007):
A female hammerhead shark was mysteriously born at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in December 2001, in a tank that held three adult, female hammerheads but no males.
Although the three females had been caught before they reached sexual maturity and held in captivity for more than three years, researchers initially thought one of them had stored sperm from a male shark before fertilizing an egg. But the team -- which included scientists at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, Queen's University Belfast and the Omaha zoo -- determined that the baby shark's genetic makeup perfectly matched one of the females in the tank, with no sign of a male parent.
Nova Southeastern's Guy Harvey Research Institute director Mahmood Shivji -- one of the paper's authors -- said he and his colleagues determined that a byproduct formed when sharks produce eggs, known as a sister polar body, had fused with an unfertilized egg to produce the baby shark, whose DNA had only half as much genetic variability as the mother.
"Yes, indeed this is a virgin birth," Shivji said in an interview.
What do we make of this?
I distinctly seem to recall that the bible makes several references to the son of God being partial to a 'tuna & mayo in brown'!! ;D
Forever without exception. x
Anyone? 
