Animals and Virgin Birth: No Daddy Needed

Virgin birth or asexual reproduction, which is otherwise known as Parthenogenesis, is not as rare as you might think. Recently, virgin birth has been observed in certain types of snakes, but other animals like chickens, sharks, lizards and plenty of species of bees and insects can do it.

There are different mechanisms involved in creating offspring in this way. However, basically, full clones have all their mother's genetic material and half-clones, which can occur due to terminal fusion, have a little over half the mother's genetic material.

The fearsome and let's face it, ugly, Komodo dragon, is the largest living species of lizard and this monster, believe it or not, can replicate itself without the need of a daddy. Offspring are not exact clones, as genetic material gets shuffled about. Generally, however, Komodo dragons do form pair bonds and have a once a year mating period. Males, as usual, fight over desirable females and often, vomit or defecate when getting ready for a brawl.

Komodo dragon

Certain types of sharks are also capable of virgin birth like the odd-looking hammerhead shark. Hammerheads, too, usually have a once a year mating period and the mating process usually involves the male shark aggressively biting the female, until she will mate with him. Female sharks, however, can fertilise their own eggs (sounds preferable), by parthenogenesis, but usually, there will be only one offspring produced.

The hammerhead shark

The humble chicken and turkey can also clone themselves, if there is no male to oblige. However what about us humans? Hwang Woo-suk, a former professor at Seoul National University claimed that he had successfully cloned a human embryo. However. rather than a story of pioneering science, this case turned into a tale of fraud, scandal and shame.


Books To Read

The Prestige, is a novel by British writer Christopher Priest. The events of the past are revealed through the diaries of magicians Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden. The diaries read by their great-grandchildren, Kate Angier and Andrew Westley (born Nicholas Borden) in the present day, and diary entries are interspersed with events of Kate's and Andrew's lives throughout the novel.