Of all the news articles I read today, one of the funniest was about a shark's "virgin birth". A genetic analysis by universities in Florida and Northern Ireland of the DNA of a female baby shark that died shortly after birth in December 2001 revealed that its mother, one of three female bonnetheads captured in Florida and kept without male company for three years in a Nebraska zoo, conceived her in a form of asexual reproduction called parthenogenesis. Popular culture previously came across parthenogenesis as an explanation of the way Velociraptors were able to reproduce in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park even though no males were kept on the island.
Memorable quote: "I would be concerned about a lot of other things than whether or not a female shark can get a date for an evening," he said.
Memorable quote: "I would be concerned about a lot of other things than whether or not a female shark can get a date for an evening," he said.
