A new word, as excerpted from the Associated Press, 9/23/02:

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DETROIT -- Experts at a city aquarium are baffled by the unexpected births of three baby sharks to a mother who hasn't been near a male shark in at least six years. The female whitespotted bamboo shark gave birth at Detroit's Belle Isle Aquarium. The births, often called virgin births, are among the few known at accredited U.S. zoos or aquariums.

Female sharks, like many animals, will lay infertile eggs even if there is no male mate around. Doug Sweet, curator of fishes, left them in the tank because he had heard about a bonnethead shark at a Nebraska zoo that had a virgin birth last year. The first egg hatched in July. It was followed soon by the second, and the third egg hatched last week. Three or four more eggs may hatch in coming weeks, Sweet said.

The most likely scenario - though thought to be very rare - is that the shark somehow stimulated the eggs without sperm. This complex process, known as parthenogenesis, is the ability of unfertilized eggs to develop into embryos without sperm.

It's very common in snails and water fleas, but not in higher vertebrates.

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See? It really is word-related.

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parthenogenesis, is the ability of unfertilized eggs to develop into embryos without sperm.

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As long as it can't happen to me!

I think there are some fish other than sharks, and some lizards that pull off this trick pretty regularly, but it's generally accepted that sexual reproduction is better in conditions wherein competition for habitat is heavy, or habitat changes occur frequently. Parthenogenesis seems most common in very stable ecosystems. Maybe that's why we men keep things so stirred up!

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"but it's generally accepted that sexual reproduction is better in conditions wherein competition for habitat is heavy"

It's more fun, too!

Richard English

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It's more fun, too!

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In searching for double dactyls for another thread, I suddenly realized that the miraculous shark has a historical human counterpart.

Higgeldy piggeldly
Mary of Magdela
Said to the dolorous
Mother of God:

"Parthenogenesis
I for one left to the
Simple amoeba or
Gasteropod."

The article quoted at the start of this thread said, "It's very common in snails and water fleas, but not in higher vertebrates."

Picking a nit here, but is a shark a vertabrate?

Just got this in my e-mail...thought you might enjoy!

A mother took her daughter to the doctor and asked him to give
her an examination to determine the cause of her daughters swollen
abdomen. It only took the doctor about 2 seconds to say "Your daughter is pregnant." The mother turned red with fury and she argued with the doctor that her daughter was a good girl and would never compromise her reputation by having sex with a boy. The doctor faced the window and silently watched the horizon. The mother became enraged and screamed, "Quit looking out the window! Aren't you paying attention to me?" "Yes, of course I am paying attention ma'am. It's just that the last time this happened, a star appeared in the East, and three wise men came. And I was hoping that they would show up again."

Along similar lines, there was the case of a rather elderly woman ("not that there's anything wrong with that!" Jerry Seinfeld) whose female cat repeatedly gave birth to one healthy litter after another without the benefit, she insisted, of male companionship. Her son was equally sure that even though his mother's cat never went outdoors that a male cat must somehow be visiting without his mother knowing. During an inspection to find where a male cat might be making his way into his mother's home, he discovered a large male tom contentedly sleeping in a guest room. Presenting this find to his mother, she laughingly dismissed the possibility that this cat could be responsible for the feline population explosion. "He can't be the father of my cat's kittens!", she explained. "They're brother and sister!"

True story.