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It's funny. Laugh. Science

Rare Virgin Shark Births Reported in Detroit 78

Posted by timothy from the signs-of-the-something-or-other dept.
randomErr writes "Voice of America reported that 'Officials at Detroit's Belle Isle Aquarium say a shark there recently produced three babies in an event they are calling virgin births. The mother, a white spotted bamboo shark has lived at the aquarium without any male counterparts for the past six years.'"
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Rare Virgin Shark Births Reported in Detroit More

Rare Virgin Shark Births Reported in Detroit

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  • Hmm... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by chainrust ( 610064 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:10PM (#4313021) Journal
    Looking it up on Google [google.com], the only other recorded instance of a virgin shark birth happened in a Omaha zoo [lightwatcher.com].
    I wasn't able to find the species of shark in Detroit, but the one in Omaha was a bonnethead.
    Makes for some very odd news...

    • Re:Hmm... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Gibbys Box of Trix ( 176568 )
      It says in the write up it was a white spotted bamboo shark. These 600,000+ noobs don't even read the story these days before K-whoring, let alone the article.

      HTH.

  • Reason to worry? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kopretinka ( 97408 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:12PM (#4313034) Homepage
    a shark there recently produced three babies in an event they are calling virgin births

    And were those little sharks or human babies? Now I'd start worrying if it's the latter...

  • it's a frickin miracle (Score:4, Funny)

    by pizza_milkshake ( 580452 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:13PM (#4313042)
    i say abandon the whole Jesus-worshipping thing... nail those shark babies to a wooden cross and someone'll worship them. not me though. nope.
  • Those who so far used to say "oh, geez", will have to start saying "oh, geezes" (plural of "oh, geez"), which is not really a change for the better.

    On the other hand, maybe "oh, gees" (plural of "oh, gee") would do.

  • Too Much Hoopla (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jeramybsmith ( 608791 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:20PM (#4313110)
    Shark reproduction is still pretty much voodoo to the scientific community. Take the white shark, we know zilch about them. Only after we attached some gps units to some white sharks did we discover that they like to take little trips down into the abyss now and then (and we we have no clue why they do it or what they eat while down there).

    All in all, I suspect there is nothing miraculous about reproduction. My guess is either the shark has weird 6 year gestation or that the shark was a builtin survival mechanism where if it does not produce offspring for a long time it essentially clones itself by reproducing from its own sole DNA.

    • All in all, I suspect there is nothing miraculous about reproduction. My guess is either the shark has weird 6 year gestation or that the shark was a builtin survival mechanism where if it does not produce offspring for a long time it essentially clones itself by reproducing from its own sole DNA.

      I agree... I think that's how I was born.

    • How can we possibly not know anything about the Great White Shark? The Discovery Channel does endless TV specials on them!

      Maybe we need to do spend more time studying their reproductive systems and less time poking them in the testicles until they lunge at the poor steak-sauce covered cameraman in the cage in order to scare the folks at home.

      jf
      • Well, if you actually had *watched* any of those specials you would have *known* we don't know anything about the Great White's reproduction. The say it about five times in each special.
        Yes, I know you are kidding.

    • goes to show (Score:2, Interesting)

      by tid242 ( 540756 )
      just goes to show that we'd rather catch something in a net, throw it in a tank, and invite people to come look at it - then actually learning about what we're caging. sort of like how we treat minorities, except when the minorities reproduce it's considered a problem rather than a blessing...

      -tid242

    • It's probably a survival mechanism. It also occurs in humans, but is exceedingly rare (I don't remember the medical term for it). Something like only 3 cases ever recorded in the US.

    • lol. "Never underestimate the end user". There's a dirty joke in there somewhere...I'm almost positive... ;)
  • So Jesus is a lawyer?

  • Soo..... (Score:3, Funny)

    by stienman ( 51024 ) <adavis@@@ubasics...com> on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:25PM (#4313147) Homepage Journal
    So... There's hope for single geeks everywhere to perpetuate the species?

    Remember - just because you can doesn't mean you should. :-)

    -Adam

  • Busted... damn! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:30PM (#4313189)
    Note to self:

    Stop sneaking into aquariums and having sexual intercourse with the sharks.

  • we must exterminate them immediately (Score:3, Funny)

    by Lepruhkawn ( 199083 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:35PM (#4313228) Homepage
    Since the shark is obviously cloning itself, I predict that it takes about 5 minutes for the Bush administration to declare war on the species.

    There actually could be some very interesting spinoffs to shark-targeting torpedos.

  • JAWSUS CHRIST!!!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by seanmeister ( 156224 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:41PM (#4313275)
    That's amazing! I just hope they don't go out and eat all of us merry non-believers.
    • If you think about it, the Bible never limited his return to being *human*.

      Although it is going to be weird when the next generation prays to sharks.

      "Oh Great Chompy! We gather to worship Thou."

  • Stored sperm (Score:4, Insightful)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:42PM (#4313278) Homepage Journal
    In some species, the female will store sperm after mating for future fertilization. Perhaps something like that is at work here? It should be easy enough to do a DNA test to see if the offspring have a father.

  • In other news... (Score:3, Funny)

    by GreyWolf3000 ( 468618 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:49PM (#4313331) Journal

    Richard Simmons, popular television motivational speaker for the obese (and a rampant homosexual), miraculously gave birth to triplets last Thursday. Authorities are still coming to consensus as to the biological classification of the "lil' rascals," as Simmons calls them, but they have agreed definitively that they are not human. "The babies have large amounts of hair both on their heads and on their chests, and yet their testosterone level is actually near zero," said one doctor, present at the birth, who declined to disclose his name. "This, among other things, does not support any traits of humans."

    "It's about time my New Year's Resolution came true," said the 54 year old. "Is it too much to ask to have a few bundles of sunshine of my own?" As he said this, he picked up infant Rupert, the first of the babies who left the alleged "birth canal," and began to sing "You Are my Sunshine" softly.

    Not all are pleased about this, however. Many in the nearby community have expressed outrage at the newest three members of the community. "I don't want my newborn going to school with them 5 years from now. Either they move, or I do," said a local resident. Others fear the sudden emergence of yet three more to bear the Simmons name. "That guy was pregnant? Christ, we already have like four Baldwins, and we know how bad that is. Well, this will definately be worse," said another in outrage.

    Though a controversial topic with much uncertainty and doubt with respect to the outcome, the fact that this was indeed a conception without sexual contact is universally accepted.

    • ... In the last interview I saw with him (this was probably a year and a half ago), he said that he has never said one word about his sex life/preference because (a) it's boring, (b) it's nobody's business, (c) it's his privacy, and (d) did he mention it was boring?

      So in the interests of fairness... you can't say he's a rampant homosexual. Because we don't know one way or another and he wants to keep us in the dark.

      I actually respect that position an awful lot. Nowadays, saying my sex life is none of your goddamned business is a hell of a lot more daring and principled a position than, say, publically acknowledging you like to use date-rape drugs on marmosets.
  • I'm not sure if I believe a virgin birth... maybe this guy [dolphinsex.org] had something to do with it? if the aquarium security is found to be lax and he doesn't have a good alibi...
  • Is the shark's name Mary?

  • It does happen (Score:4, Interesting)

    by damiangerous ( 218679 ) <1ndt7174ekq80001@sneakemail.com> on Monday September 23, 2002 @03:24PM (#4313590)
    in some other higher species. Most notably and frequently, in turkeys [orst.edu].
  • That reminds me of Ian Malcom's statement in Jurassic Park "..life will find a way..."

    This raises some interesting questions about survival and evolution.

  • Shark sperms can swim for long distances (Score:4, Funny)

    by savage_panda ( 201493 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @04:29PM (#4314234)
    It's a well known fact that sperms are great swimmers. I think it just swam the distance from the male shark to the lady shark. I was born the same way. My mom had me while my dad was in vietnam. And "little" me had to swim across the ocean like the salmon swimming home. Oddly enough thou, I'm not a great swimmer.
  • This can only be interpreted as the final, irrefutable proof that god is a shark. I guess that a lot of people are left with a strange taste in their mouth after this...
    including (but not limited to), the cast of:
    Jaws [imdb.com]
    Jaws 2 [imdb.com]
    Jaws: The Revenge [imdb.com]
    etc. etc.

  • an idea (Score:5, Funny)

    by pretzel_logic ( 576231 ) <andy.shook@g m a i l . c om> on Monday September 23, 2002 @05:11PM (#4314595)
    This is a milestone. Slashdot is the first to have proof to answer the oldest question.

    What came first; the chicken or the egg?

    now we can all say, the hermaphrodite chicken!!, lol
  • did any body see a shooting star or 3 Arab kings come dawdling by??? :-)
  • As I was reading the article yesterday I couldn't help but notice it said embroyos developing without fertilization happen in fish and amphibians.

    This led me to think that if it happens in humans it could very well be that the woman is exponentially behind on the evolutionary scale.

    • nope - it is the male who is the superfluous throwback if it happens in humans! This was a FEMALE shark - only females have the plumbing to pull off pregnancy and childbirth. We've already proven that years of sexual intercourse by over-intelligent males with their right hand produces no offspring.
  • Despite the foot, this is apparenytly real, as can be seen for the zoo's press release [detroitzoo.org]. There will be genetic tests performed to work out what happened, to quote the article:
    Genetic testing will soon begin on the newly hatched sharks to demonstrate whether or not they are indeed true parthenogenetic sharks, or if another explanation is available. For example, the tests may reveal that the mother could actually be both male and female, thus capable of fertilizing its own eggs. This occurrence is common in invertebrates, such as snails, and some lower vertebrates, such as the mangrove killifish and the goby fish. Another possible explanation could be that the shark was fertilized by a male at a young age.

  • Did they have a visitor (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lars T. ( 470328 ) <Lars,Traeger&googlemail,com> on Tuesday September 24, 2002 @12:20PM (#4319832) Journal
    named Troy McClure?

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