Costa Rica’s wildlife community is abuzz with excitement as a remarkable and unprecedented event has unfolded at a local zoo. For the first time ever, a female crocodile has been found to reproduce asexually, resulting in a pregnancy and the birth of a genetically identical offspring.
This phenomenon, often referred to as “virgin birth” or parthenogenesis, has been observed in certain bird, fish, and reptile species, but never before in crocodiles.
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In January 2018, an 18-year-old female American crocodile at Parque Reptilania laid an egg that contained a fully formed, but stillborn, fetus. The crocodile had been acquired at the age of two and had been kept separate from other crocodiles throughout her life.
The scientific team at the park, intrigued by this unusual event, sought the expertise of Dr. Warren Booth, a researcher at Virginia Tech in the US and originally from Belfast. Dr. Booth has been studying parthenogenesis, or virgin births, for the past 11 years.
Upon analyzing the fetus, Dr. Booth made an astonishing discovery—the genetic analysis revealed that the fetus was more than 99.9% genetically identical to its mother. This finding provided concrete evidence that the fetus had developed without the contribution of a father.
”We see it in in sharks, birds, snakes and lizards and it is remarkably common and widespread”.
Dr. Warren Booth, a researcher at Virginia Tech in the US, has put forth a speculation regarding the absence of observed parthenogenesis in crocodiles. According to him, the reason for this apparent lack of documentation could be attributed to a lack of focused research and observation on the subject.
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In other words, Dr. Booth suggests that the rarity of documented instances of parthenogenesis in crocodiles may be due to the fact that scientists have not actively sought out or investigated such occurrences until now.
