In other news, God has fathered a new son. He has given up on humanity and decided to save the sharks from their sins:
Scientists have confirmed the second case of a “virgin birth” in a shark.
In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female blacktip shark in a Virginia aquarium contained no genetic material from a male.
Okay, I’m kidding about the God part — he doesn’t really exist — but the fatherless shark is real news. It seems asexual reproduction can happen very rarely in sharks. Who would have thought?
I knew it, I knew he liked sharks better. That’s why they get to regrow teeth. (ever had to have a root canal? you know what I’m talking about).
There was another instance of parthenogenesis fairly recently, wasn’t there? Was it another shark or something else?
Hail the Jesus shark!
I’m starting the Sharkian church.
I foresee a new Spielberg/Gibson collaboration: The Passion of Jaws.
the previous case was a hammerhead…
just like Jesus was a carpenter!
Unfortunately, neither shark survived, the hammerhead being eaten and the blacktip dying while still pregnant, and so the sharks will not be Saved just yet.
Wait, second? Wikipedia says third/fourth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis#Sharks
Komodo dragons can do it to, but due to a different system of gender chromosomes the offspring are always male. (Which is an advantage in that a single female can populate an entire island.)
I suppose the bacteria are god’s chosen creatures.
I always figured the whole virgin birth thing was a cover story for screwing around without permission. ;) This throws a whole new dimension into things.
Sadly, this process only seems to work on specific creatures, with humans not being one of them. I guess my initial premise still holds.