Jakarta –
For the first time, scientists recorded cases crocodile isolated females for 16 years in captivity, produce eggs. The crocodile was caught in 2002.
The American alligator (Crododylus acutus) was put into captivity when he was 2 years old in Parque Reptilandia, Costa Rica. He was there alone for the next 16 years. So in January 2018, 14 eggs were found in the nest.
This is a phenomenon called facultative parthenogenesis (FP), a type of asexual reproduction in species that normally reproduce sexually. Scientists have documented it in birds, sharks, lizards and snakes in captivity, but not in crocodiles until that incident.
In a study published in the journal Biology Letters, seven out of 14 eggs were produced crocodile in Costa Rica it had a chance at life. The zoo keeper incubated these eggs, but they did not hatch. So after three months, they opened the eggs.
The contents of the six eggs cannot be seen, but one egg already contains a fully formed fetus, but is not viable. Genetic analysis showed the fetus was almost identical to its mother.
The team of scientists led by Warren Booth, an expert from Virgina Tech, said it was a disappointment that the egg didn’t hatch, but indeed this type of reproduction is prone to being abnormal. FP may be more common for species on the verge of extinction
They also say the discovery of the virgin birth in crocodiles means FP has now been found in both birds, which are descended from dinosaurs, and crocodiles, indicating a common evolutionary origin. Birds and crocodiles are the only remaining representatives of archosaurs, a group that also includes dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
“This new evidence offers insight into the possible reproductive abilities of the extinct archosaurian relatives of crocodilians, especially Pterosauria and Dinosauria,” they wrote. In other words, dinosaurs probably had similar abilities.
Watch Video “Horrified! Mother and Child in North Sumatra Bitten by a Crocodile While Washing Clothes in the River“
(fyk/fay)
2023-06-07 08:20:47
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