California Condor Can Have a “Virgin Birth”, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Research Finds

San Diego-An endangered California condor could have a “virgin birth,” according to a study published Thursday.

Researchers at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said genetic testing confirmed that two male chicks that hatched from unfertilized eggs in 2001 and 2009 were associated with their mothers. Neither had anything to do with men.

This study was published in the Journal of Heredity on Thursday. This is the first report of asexual reproduction in the California Condor, but parthenogenesis can occur in other species, from sharks to honeybees to Komodo dragons.

But in birds, it usually only occurs when females do not have access to males. In this case, each mother’s Condor had previously bred with a male to lay 34 chicks, each of which was bred with a fertile male when parthenogenetic eggs were laid.

Researchers said they believe that females are the first case of asexual reproduction in birds that have come into contact with their spouse.

“These findings raise the question of whether this can occur undetected in other species,” said the study’s co-author and Conservation Genetics of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Said Oliver Rider, the director of.

Welcome to the world! Watch baby condor hatching at LA Zoo

The non-profit alliance operates the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park and participates in the California Condor Breeding Program, which helped bring giant vultures back from extinction.

With a wingspan of 10 feet (3 meters), the California Condor is the largest flying bird in North America. They once spread throughout the west coast. However, when the US government captured them in the 1980s and placed them in zoos for captive breeding, only 22 survived. About 160 animals were bred at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.

Currently, there are more than 500 California Condors, including more than 300 released wild in California, Arizona, Utah, and Mexico.

Asexual reproduction was discovered several years ago during extensive testing of genetic material collected over decades from breeding programs and wild condors.

According to the study, “out of the 467 California Condor males tested in the parent-child relationship analysis, none of them qualify as potential bulls” in the two birds.

California condors can live up to 60 years, but both men were ill. One was under the age of two when he died and the other was under the age of eight.

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California Condor Can Have a “Virgin Birth”, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Research Finds

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