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Crocodile Impregnates Herself at Zoo in Costa Rica

It’s the first known case of a “virgin birth” in crocodiles.

A female crocodile at a Costa Rica zoo impregnated herself after being kept away from other crocodiles her whole life, researchers say. The “virgin birth”—or parthenogenesis—was confirmed by a team of experts who tested the fetus, finding that it was more than 99.9 percent genetically identical to the mother. The fetus was a stillborn and did not hatch, researchers wrote in the scientific journal Biology Letters. The phenomenon has been seen before in certain species of fish and birds, but this is reportedly the first known case of a crocodile “virgin birth.” “This new evidence offers tantalizing insights into the possible reproductive capabilities of extinct relatives of crocodiles, notably the dinosaurs,” researchers wrote.