2023-06-07 23:10:00
The first case of a female crocodile that reproduced without the help of a male took place at a reptile park in Costa Rica, according to a new study. The female laid an egg that contained a fetus that was 99.9% genetically identical to her..
The phenomenon of the call “virgin birth” it was found in species of birds, fish and other reptiles, but never before in crocodiles.
The scientists point out that this trait might be inherited from an evolutionary ancestor, so dinosaurs might also have been capable of self-reproduction.
The egg was laid by an 18-year-old female American crocodile. at Parque Reptilandia in January 2018. The fetus inside was fully formed but dead, so it did not hatch.
The female that laid the egg arrived at the zoo when she was two years old and was kept away from other crocodiles her entire life. For this reason, the park’s science team contacted scientists at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute who specialize in virgin births, scientifically known as parthenogenesis.
Researchers analyzed the fetus and found it to be more than 99.9% genetically identical to its motherconfirming that he had no father.
It might be that virgin births are more common in crocodiles and have gone unnoticed until now because instances of them have not been sought, say the authors of the study published in the journal Biology Letters of the Royal Society, the British Academy of Sciences.
“It is not uncommon for captive reptiles to lay clutches of eggs.. Given the isolation period of the pairs, the eggs would normally be considered non-viable and discarded.”
“These findings suggest that the potential viability of eggs when males are absent should be assessed,” the researchers add.
“Furthermore, since (virgin births) can occur in the presence of potential matesthese cases can be overlooked when reproduction occurs in females cohabiting with males.
It is not clear why parthenogenesis occurs in different species, but instances of this phenomenon are turning up more frequently in the scientific literature, probably because scientists are now looking for it.
One theory is that virgin births occur in species capable of parthenogenesis. when the number of individuals decreases and the species is on the verge of extinction. “This new evidence offers tantalizing information regarding the possible reproductive abilities of extinct relatives of crocodiles, especially dinosaurs,” the scientists note.
* Por Pallab Ghosh
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