Photo: leungchopan/Depositphotos(Not a photo of the actual crocodile.)
At the beginning of 2018, a female crocodile in a Costa Rican zoo laid eggs.
Crocodiles can lay infertile eggs, but this ones clutch (group) looked normal.
Photo: leungchopan/Depositphotos(Not a photo of the actual crocodile.)
One egg even went on to mature in an incubator.
The natural question to ask is why this happened in the first place.
In anewly published paperin the academic journalBiology Letters,a team of researchers gives an explanation.
Essentially, this baby resulted from a virgin birth and only contained genetic material from its mother.
This is the first time its been found in crocodiles.
Parthenogenogensis is not unheard of in the animal kingdom.
Crocodiles now join that list.
In between these are the pterosaurs and the dinosaurs.
The researchers in the academic paper are continuing to research crocodiles.
In studying these creatures, they are sure to uncover new revelations about evolution.
