Thanks to genetic testing, scientists now confirmed that California condors can have ‘virgin births.’ The endangered animals now have hope for avoiding extinction!
According to the test made by researchers with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, two male chicks hatched from unfertilized eggs that were only related to their mothers. Around 467 male California condors were tested in the parentage analysis and none qualified as a potential sire.
This is the first-ever report on asexual reproduction in the condors. An interesting note to this case is that both mothers who produced the baby condors asexually had access to their mates. Each mother bred with males and produced around 34 chicks. “These findings now raise questions about whether this might occur undetected in other species,” said Oliver Ryder, one of the researchers involved in the study.
Image credit: wikimedia commons
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