This week, people celebrated the virgin birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas. During the 2023 holiday season, zookeepers in Illinois have been celebrating a different type of virgin birth.
Last month, the Brookfield Zoo announced that one of its sharks laid an egg that hatched in August. However, the female that laid the egg hadn’t been housed with a male shark since her arrival at the zoo in 2019.
How did it happen?
Mike Masellis, the lead animal care specialist at the Brookfield Zoo, joined host Mike Rogers to discuss the process – called parthenogenesis – that allowed the holiday miracle. He also delivered an update on how the shark pup is doing.
“It’s a really interesting process,” Masellis explained. “It’s common in invertebrates. So, things like I mean – corals, you can break a piece of coral off and start a new coral head… a lot of animals don’t need to have… don’t need to reproduce and mate per say, but most invertebrates or things with backbones like us – mammals, birds, most reptiles and most fish – they do mate in that way.”
Listen here to learn more.
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