This exceptional case took place in Costa Rica, according to the magazine Biology Letters, specifically in the Reptilandia Park, located in Dominical, in the southern part of the country. “The American crocodile (Crocodylusacutus) was kept in captivity from the age of 2 in the Reptilandia Park in Costa Rica. For the next 16 years, it remained in solitary. However, in January 2018, a nest with 14 eggs was found in its enclosure”, the study reveals.
This event marks the first time an animal of this species has had a “virgin birth”, a phenomenon previously only observed in birds, fish, and other reptiles. The discovery came when park keepers noticed the crocodile was pregnant, despite having been isolated from other crocodiles since arriving at the zoo at 2 years of age.
After some time, the egg was observed to fail to hatch, indicating that the fully formed fetus had died within it. Those responsible for Reptilandia contacted scientists from the Virginia Polytechnic University in the United States, experts in virgin reproduction or parthenogenesis.
Genetically identical
Once the experts arrived in the country, they carefully examined the fetus and found that it was more than 99.9% genetically identical to its mother. This finding confirmed that the fetus had no father, meaning that the crocodile, which was 18 years old at the time, had reproduced on its own.
According to the scientists, this trait could be inherited from an evolutionary ancestor, raising the possibility that dinosaurs could have experienced virgin pregnancies as well.
