This is the third or so time its happened in six years. A shark has been rained upon by a beam of God's golden seed and has given birth without aid of a real boy-shark. The first time, in 2002, it was a spotted bamboo shark, and in 2007 an isolated hammerhead had a pup--only to have it killed hours later by a stingray in the tank. This time it was a white-tipped reef shark in a tank in Nyiregyahaza Centre in Hungary.
This pretty much wraps up the case made by the Society for Cutting Up Men about the obsolescence of dudes and our dangly parts--or "man-cloacae" as the case may be. The phenomenon, called parthenogenesis, has been observed in iguanas, insects, snails, salamanders, several species of snake, and even a variety of turkey. In a few cases, as with the whip-tail lizard Cnemidophorus neomexicanus, parthenogenesis is the sole means of reproduction and all members of the species are female.
Scientists believe that the phenomenon is meant to shoot little Christ-sharks into being when shark-civilization has entered a period of homosexuality and nepotism. Okay. Lie. Fine, they believe that when parthenogenesis occurs in species in which its appearance is anomalous, it is a sort of reproductive safety-valve meant to ensure the continuance of the species in the event of some massive gender-specific bottleneck. Sprinkle that on your candy cigarette and smoke it Promise Keepers!
Related:
17-foot long deep-sea shark with meter-wide head waaaay cooler than Cloverfield monster
It's a shark-eat-frog-eat-fish world: First food-chain fossil discovered
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