Zookeepers discover first ever ‘virgin birth’ as crocodile makes itself pregnant

Zookeepers discover first ever ‘virgin birth’ as crocodile makes itself pregnant
A crocodile has made herself pregnant within the first recognized case on the earth.
The croc created a foetus that was 99.9 per cent genetically similar to herself at a zoo in Costa Rica, in a phenomenon referred to as a “virgin birth”.

Virgin births are generally seen in sharks, birds, snakes and lizards, however by no means in a crocodile, till now. 

A crocodile has made herself pregnant within the first recognized case on the earth. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The egg was laid at Parque Reptilandia in 2018, nonetheless, the foetus was a stillborn and didn’t hatch.

Zookeepers had been puzzled as to how the feminine croc fell pregnant as she has all the time lived separated from different crocodiles.

The staff contacted scientist Warren Booth for an evidence.

Booth has been learning virgin births, identified scientifically as parthenogenesis, for 11 years.

He discovered that the foetus shared greater than 99.9 per cent of its mom’s DNA, confirming it had no father.

Booth defined to BBC that animals might start self-impregnating when their species brinks on extinction.

”The incontrovertible fact that the mechanism of parthenogenesis is similar in so many various species means that it’s a very historical trait that has been inherited all through the ages,” he said.

“This helps the concept that dinosaurs may additionally reproduce this manner.”

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The process begins when a species develops gametes.

A gamete is made when a specialised cell with two sets of chromosomes “undergoes two fissions of its nuclear cells”, according to Britannica.com.

This process is called meiosis.

In basic terms, the neuron splits into two smaller atoms twice, which eventually combine to create a foetus. 

Humans can also experience a form of parthenogenesis, however, it results in tumours, not children.

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Source: www.9news.com.au