It’s not often a stingray goes viral but this story is truly newsworthy and shows just how wild nature can be.
The staff at a North Carolina aquarium were shocked when they discovered that one of their female stingrays had become pregnant without any males of her kind in her tank. So to say that staff were shocked, when they discovered that Charlotte was pregnant, is an understatement. She had been living in a tank with two male sharks which initially they thought one of them may have bitten her and impregnated her. However, sharks and stingrays are separated by 300 million years of evolution so genetically, they aren’t compatible.
Instead this phenomenon is known as parthenogenesis, which is extremely rare but not unheard of in the animal kingdom. Oxford dictionary defines the term as,
reproduction from an ovum without fertilization, especially as a normal process in some invertebrates and lower plants.
In this case, Charlotte’s ability to reproduce asexually is a fascinating example of the incredible adaptability and resilience of marine life. A scientist in Georgia told the Associated Press that this is the first time she’s heard of this happening to a stingray.
The staff at the aquarium are now closely monitoring her pregnancy and are excited to meet Charlotte’s pups. They already have a nursery tank ready for when the babies are born.
