Virgin birth: Hammerhead sharks can reproduce without mating.

>> A hammerhead shark reproduced without mating in 2001, marking the first time that asexual reproduction has been observed among sharks, according to a new report. Scientists say their analysis of DNA from the baby shark, which died not long after it was born, shows "there was no male contribution," The New York Times says. How is this possible?

Instead of mating with a male, the paper says in this case "the female shark?s own genetic material combined during the process of cell division that produces an egg. A cell called the secondary oocyte, which contains half the female chromosomes and normally becomes the egg, fused with another cell called the secondary polar body, which contains the identical genetic material." <<

The process is called parthogenesis, and was not previously known to be possible for animals so far up the evolutionary chain (to say nothing of the food chain!)

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