A stingray named Charlotte, who lives without a mate in a small aquarium in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, is pregnant.
The founder of Team ECCO, Brenda J. Ramer, said there is a very small possibility that Charlotte was impregnated by a bamboo shark that shares her tank, but said it is much more likely that parthenogenesis occurred.
Parthenogenesis is a rare process of asexual reproduction that happens in some animals when an embryo is developed within an unfertilized egg.
When the swelling first occurred in September last year the staff at the aquarium were that Charlotte may have developed cysts or developed cancer.
However, an ultrasound later confirmed that she was pregnant.
The team are preparing for Charlotte to give birth at any moment within the next fortnight, and they say they expect between one and four “pups”.
After the birth, Ramer says that the team will conduct DNA tests to answer the question of how she became pregnant.
