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October 29, 2021 02:10 pm

Endangered Birds Experience 'Virgin Birth,' a First for the Species

Female California condors don't need males to have offspring -- joining sharks, rays, and lizards on the list of creatures that can reproduce without mating. From a report: "There's something really confusing about the condor data." Those weren't the words Oliver Ryder wanted to hear as he walked to his car after a long day's work trying to save California condors, one of the most endangered animals on the planet. When his colleague Leona Chemnick explained what she was seeing, his dread quickly changed to fascination. For decades, scientists have been trying to coax the California condor back from the edge of extinction. The entire population of these birds crashed to just 22 animals in 1982. By 2019, captive breeding and release efforts had slowly built the total population up over 500. Doing that has required careful management of captive birds, particularly selecting which males and females can breed to produce healthy offspring. That's how, as the scientists took a closer at genetic data, they discovered that two male birds -- known only by their studbook numbers, SB260 and SB517 -- showed no genetic contribution from the birds that should have been their fathers. In other words, the birds came into the world by facultative parthenogenesis -- or virgin birth -- according to a peer-reviewed paper published October 28 in the Journal of Heredity. Such asexual reproduction in normally sexually reproducing species occurs when certain cells produced with a female animal's egg behave like sperm and fuse with the egg. Though rare in vertebrates, parthenogenesis occurs in sharks, rays, and lizards. Scientists have also recorded self-fertilization in some captive bird species, such as turkeys, chickens, and Chinese painted quail, usually only when females are housed without access to a male. But this is the first time it's been recorded in California condors.

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