2023-06-08 07:58:18
Scientists have documented the first known case of a “virgin birth” from a crocodile, which was carrying 16 years living isolated in a zoo in Costa Rica, according to a study published this Wednesday.
The female American crocodile laid 14 eggs in her enclosure in 2018, a not uncommon phenomenon among captive reptiles. However, the most puzzling event occurred after three months of incubationwhen one of the eggs was found to contain a fully formed baby crocodile that she was stillborn.
The scientists analyzed the genetic makeup of the crocodile fetus, according to the study published in the journal Biology Letters. They found DNA sequences that showed it to be the result of facultative parthenogenesis (PF), or reproduction without the genetic contribution of males.
The phenomenon of PF, which some scientists have referred to by the abbreviation “virgin birth,” has also been documented in other species of fish, birds, lizards, and snakes. According to scientists, this is the first known example in a crocodile.
in the PF, a female’s egg can develop into a baby without being fertilized by the sperm of a male.
To make an egg, a precursor cell divides into four cells: one becomes the egg and retains key cell structures and gelatinous cytoplasm, while the others contain additional genetic material.
One of those cells then essentially acts as a sperm cell and fuses with the egg to become “fertilized.”
The American crocodile is considered vulnerable and endangered in the wild. According to one hypothesis, PF may be more common among species on the brink of extinctionsays the study.
The scientists claimed that Costa Rica’s “virgin birth” could provide new information about the ancestors of crocodiles that walked the Earth in the Triassic Period, some 250 million years ago.
“This discovery offers a tantalizing glimpse into the potential reproductive abilities of extinct archosaur relatives of crocodilians and birds, particularly members of the Pterosauria and Dinosauria,” the study notes.
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