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Virgin birth: sharks' secret survival trick

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Scientist
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29 Apr 2010, 9:59 am

This is cool:

Quote:
CAN'T find a mate? Try parthenogenesis. The type of asexual reproduction may be part of an extreme survival strategy for sharks.

In parthenogenesis, females' eggs start dividing without being fertilised. This produces daughters that are genetically similar to the mother. It was first observed in a captive hammerhead shark in 2001, but this was an isolated incident, and the shark pup died after three days, making it difficult to say much about its evolutionary significance.

Kevin Feldheim at the Field Museum in Chicago, and an international team of colleagues, have now shown that the incident was not exceptional and sharks born from a virgin mother can survive for many years.


Here's the article:
New Scientist - Virgin birth: shark's secret survival trick


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Solsikke
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29 Apr 2010, 10:18 am

Sharks are amazing creatures :)



Fuzzy
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29 Apr 2010, 12:15 pm

More and more animals are being found to do that.

Thanks Scientist. Your links are always interesting.


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mechanicalgirl39
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29 Apr 2010, 1:39 pm

That is awesome.


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29 Apr 2010, 2:21 pm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bMM61Y5CEU[/youtube]

In a jungle of the senses
Tinkerbell and Jack the ripper
Love has no meaning, not where they come from
But we know pleasure is not that simple
Very little fruit is forbidden
Sometimes we wobble, sometimes we're strong
But you know evil is an exact science
Being carefully correctly wrong

Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans
Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us
We drink elixirs that we refine
From the juices of the dying
We are no monsters, we're moral people
And yet we have the strength to do this
This is the splendour of our achievement
Call in the airstrike with a poison kiss

Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

How bad it gets, you can't imagine
The burning wax, the breath of reptiles
God is not mocked, he owns our business
Karma could take us at any moment
Cover him up, I think we're finished
You know it's never been so exotic
But I don't know, my dreams are visions
We could still end up with the great big fishes

Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home

Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home...