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A female shark at Brookfield Zoo in Illinois has birthed a pup despite having no striking with a male for four years , the menagerie announced on Nov. 1 .
The " virgin birth " occur on Aug. 23 after a five - month brooding period of time and is only the second know birth without fecundation reported for an epaulette shark ( Hemiscyllium ocellatum ) in captivity , according to astatement . Animal care faculty kept the pup hide from the world for two months for monitoring but have now say the 5- to 6 - column inch ( 13 to 15 centimetre ) distaff shark will be on display in the zoo ’s " Living Coasts " section .
An epaulette shark pup (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) hatched from an egg that was not fertilized by a male at Brookfield Zoo.
" This epaulette shark has an exciting hatching day chronicle , " Brookfield Zoo staffwrote in a Facebook poston Wednesday ( Nov. 9 ) . " What ’s most interesting is this embryo developed without the need for male fertilisation . This process , cognise as parthenogenesis , is relatively rarified for complex vertebrates like sharks . "
Parthenogenesis , mean " virgin creation " in Greek , is a eccentric of asexual reproduction in species that would ordinarily reproduce sexually . It has been observed inbirds , sharks , lizard and snakes in captivity — and in June , scientists immortalise thefirst ever vestal birth in a crocodile . The female of species adequate to of parthenogenesis can produce egg that contain all the hereditary information needed for reproduction . Mammalscannot regurgitate asexually , because mammals , include humans , postulate certain genes to come from spermatozoon .
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The puppy ’s mommy arrive at Brookfield Zoo in 2019 from a New England aquarium , where the first known vestal birthing of an epaulette shark was reported . Since then , the female has not been house with a male person . She reached sexual adulthood last year at age 7 , faculty say in the statement , and she began laying two to four orchis every month .
One of these eggs break into an embryo without being fertilized by a male ’s familial material .
" Shark pups produced parthenogenetically can be very frail , " Mike Masellis , a lead animal care specialist at Brookfield Zoo , said in the affirmation .
But the newborn look to be healthy , he suppose . " We are happy to describe that our epaulette pup has been eating well on her diet of finely chopped capelan [ fish ] , soften squid tentacle and other finely chopped seafood . We are looking forward to guests being able-bodied to see the pup . "
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Epaulette shark are mostly nocturnal and can produce to be 3.5 feet ( 1.1 meters ) long , according to theAustralian Museum . They hold up in the Great Barrier Reef off the glide of Queensland , Australia , from the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula to the islands and reef of the Capricorn and Bunker Group . These slender sharks are key out after large ocellus above their pectoral fins that make them appear prominent than they are and look somewhat like the shoulder ornaments on some uniform .
Epaulette sharks have been do it to " walk"short distances across arenaceous seabeds — the mintage ' preferred home ground — and to utilise their muscular pectoral quint to land on the seafloor , according to the statement .
