Stingray with no male companion becomes mysteriously pregnant (2024)

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How do stingrays get pregnant without a male? ›

So that would leave parthenogenesis as the likely cause of Charlotte's pregnancy. Parthenogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction. It happens when an embryo develops from an unfertilized egg. Charlotte would be the first-known round stingray to reproduce by parthenogenesis.

This is a zoological phenomenon that occurs when females get pregnant without mating. Instead of the babies being a mixture of mom and dad's genes, their entire genetic makeup comes from the mom. And it has been documented in a number of different animals, including many species of shark and a few species of ray.

Charlotte the stingray due to give birth within weeks despite no male ray company for years. In short: A round stingray in the US has become pregnant without the involvement of a male companion. It's likely cause by parthenogenesis, which is a type of asexual reproduction.

13 article that Charlotte would be the first known round stingray to become pregnant through parthenogenesis.

Stingray's virgin pregnancy may have a delightfully unusual scientific explanation. Scientists think the pregnancy of Charlotte, a stingray living in a tank without any male rays, is an example of parthenogenesis, a miracle of life more common than most people think.

Parthenogenesis occurs naturally in some plants, algae, invertebrate animal species (including nematodes, some tardigrades, water fleas, some scorpions, aphids, some mites, some bees, some Phasmatodea, and parasitic wasps), and a few vertebrates (such as some fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds).

Charlotte is believed to be the first recorded incidence of a stingray to have undergone parthenogenesis. Exactly why parthenogenesis occurs is something of a mystery. Some scientists suggest it is a "last ditch" attempt for females to pass their genetics onto offspring.

If you were hoping for a shark-stingray hybrid in the near future, you're out of luck, since it's impossible for a shark to impregnate a stingray due to their different sizes and DNA, Kady Lyons, a research scientist at the Georgia Aquarium, told the Associated Press.

Let's get this out the way: it's impossible for a shark to impregnate a stingray. But when a lone female stingray named Charlotte unexpectedly became pregnant, her keepers joked that one of her shark tank-mates could be responsible. Then, of course, the headlines followed.

The typical gestation period in a stingray is 3 to 4 months.

How can you tell if a stingray is male or female? ›

Stingrays have been around longer than dinosaurs. The mother gives birth to live young. The difference between male and females is their pelvic fins. Males have two elongated appendages known as claspers whereas females don't have these.

In the months since her livestream announcement, Ramer tells TODAY.com she now believes Charlotte became pregnant through parthenogenesis. Britannica defines parthenogenesis as a "reproductive strategy" in which a female can develop and produce offspring without fertilization.

According to the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Charlotte the stingray is continuing with parthenogenesis, or a form of asexual reproduction where she was able to fertilize an egg without a sperm.

Charlotte is the first known documented California round stingray to do parthenogenesis in captivity." Experts explain that stingrays have the ability to asexually reproduce, which is also known as a parthenogenetic pregnancy, when there is a lack of reproduction for that species.

The Case of the Mysterious Stingray Pregnancy. Let's get this out the way: it's impossible for a shark to impregnate a stingray. But when a lone female stingray named Charlotte unexpectedly became pregnant, her keepers joked that one of her shark tank-mates could be responsible.

Thomas said female stingrays can store a male's sperm for long periods of time. "So if the female ray was housed with a male ray, at any point within the last months or potentially even years, depending on the species, it is possible that they could have naturally populated, and it's just now activating," she said.

In parthenogenesis, a polar body fuses with the unfertilized egg, triggering it to form an embryo. This is different than cloning, Lyons cautions, which would create an exact copy of the mother ray.