In Rare Virgin Birth Case Crocodile Made Herself Pregnant In Costa Rica Zoo; Here’s How It’s Possible
The latest research is based on the 2018 observation of a female crocodile held in captivity for 16 years, which laid a clutch of 14 eggs, one of which contained a fully formed, but stillborn, foetus.
New Delhi: A female crocodile at a zoo in Costa Rica made herself pregnant and laid eggs, according to a recently published study by the Royal Society. Having spent 16 years in solitary confinement, the mother croc defied all odds by producing a clutch of eggs without the involvement of a mate. The crocodile produced a foetus that was 99.9 per cent genetically identical to herself, the researchers said.
The research, led by Warren Booth, an entomologist at Virginia Tech, was published on June 7 in the journal Biology Letters. The team noted that the finding is the “first documentation” of this very rare mode of reproduction in a crocodile species.
According to the research, it is said to be the first recorded instance of a “virgin birth” in the reptile species as scientists have found evidence that female crocodiles can lay eggs without mating.
What did the study reveal?
The study, published recently in the journal Biology Letters, documented the first evidence of ‘facultative parthenogenesis’ FP in the American crocodile, Crocodylus acutus.
The latest research is based on the 2018 observation of a female crocodile held in captivity for 16 years, which laid a clutch of 14 eggs, one of which contained a fully formed, but stillborn, foetus.
The rare reproductive strategy in crocodilian species has particularly intrigued scientists as these organisms lack sex chromosomes and their sex determination is controlled by the temperature in which eggs develop and hatch.
Scientists say the trait might be inherited from an evolutionary ancestor, so dinosaurs might also have been capable of self-reproduction. “This evidence offers tantalizing insights into the possible reproductive capabilities of extinct archosaurian relatives of crocodilians, notably the Pterosauria and Dinosauria,” the authors wrote in the study.
The crocodile who laid the egg was obtained when she was two years old and was kept apart from other crocodiles for its entire life in Parque Reptilania.
Researcher Warren Booth, who works at Virginia Tech in the US, and colleagues analysed the foetus and found that it was over 99.9 per cent genetically identical to its mother, confirming that there was no male intervention in its birth.
“Building on previous studies, the data advances our understanding of the distribution of FP in vertebrates, particularly in that all previous studies relate to species whose sex is genetically determined,” the authors added.
Here’s how it is possible
Over the past two decades, zoologists have increasingly documented the vertebrate reproductive strategy of facultative parthenogenesis (FP) in which females lay eggs or give birth without mating.
A wide range of organisms including birds, reptiles like lizards and snakes as well as some fishes, have been shown to reproduce in this strange manner, the researchers said.
Known scientifically as ‘facultative parthenogenesis’, the phenomenon occurs when a female egg cell develops into an embryo without being fertilised. In this case, it is thought to have resulted from the egg fusing with genetic material left over from when it formed.
Analysis by researchers from Virginia Polytechnic showed the foetus was more than 99.9% genetically identical to the mother, which would not have been possible in a two-parent scenario.
Writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the team said: ‘It is not uncommon for captive reptiles to lay clutches of eggs, [but] given the period of isolation from mates, these would normally be considered non-viable and discarded.
