According to the Daily Mail, scientists have recently discovered a case of virgin birth in a crocodile. As reported, despite living alone for the past 16 years, a female crocodile successfully hatched fertilized eggs.
Scientists have documented the first case of parthenogenesis in a crocodile. The crocodile is over 18 years old and resides in a zoo in Costa Rica.
According to The Guardian, the crocodile was transferred to the zoo when it was only 2 years old. Surprisingly, for the past 16 years, the female crocodile has had no contact with any males.
In January 2018, zookeepers discovered a clutch of 14 eggs in the enclosure of the female crocodile. While the eggs did not hatch, one of them contained a fully formed embryo.
AccGenetic analysis was performed on tissue from the fetal heart and female crocodile skin, The results showed that the fetuses were 99.9 percent genetically similar to crocodiles. Scientists later confirmed that the embryos were created by crocodilians without the need for a male.
Virgin breeding has been reported in many birds, fish, lizards, and snakes, but crocodiles have never been recorded before. During this process, eggs develop into embryos without fertilization.
Information on this case was published in the journal Biology Letters. The crocodile's case offers "insights" that its evolutionary ancestors such as the dinosaurs also had the ability to reproduce themselves, the researchers said.
Dr Warren Booth, one of the participants in the crocodile case study, said crocodile "virgin breeding" had never been recorded because not many people kept crocodiles as pets.
"The fact that virgin reproduction is the same in so many species shows that it's a very ancient trait that has been passed down from generation to generation. So it suggests that dinosaurs could have reproduced in this way as well," he said.
