Add hammerhead sharks to your list of animals that don’t need males. A captive bonnethead female in Nebraska gave birth in 2001, and genetic testing has revealed that it was produced by parthenogenesis. In a way, this isn’t a surprise: I could have told her that Nebraska is no place for a self-respecting shark to look for a boyfriend.
Parthenogenesis had been suspected, because the shark had been isolated from males for at least 3 years, and because she lacked the obvious bite marks that result from shark sex (which is another reason a lady shark might not want to have anything to do with sexual reproduction), and now the tests have shown it for sure. Nifty!
But… surely this is proof that Jesus was born the same way!
Or at least that Jesus was a hammerhead shark. That would be much cooler than the crappy version in the bible.
What’s wrong with leaving a few bite marks?
Am I the only one reminded of Shriekback’s album Oil and Gold?
I for one welcome our new cartilagenous savior.
Crap. Now it’s unsafe to go into corn fields.
#3: Can we make ‘Nemesis’ the official theme song for Pharyngula? I mean, “But you know evil is an exact science” sounds to me like something PZ would (sarcastically) say…
From “Fins”
Can’t you feel ’em circlin’, honey
Can’t you feel ’em schoolin’ around
Fins to the left, fins to the right
You’re the only bait in town
Oh oh
Oh oh
You got fins to the left, fins to the right
You’re the only bait in town
And can I please have another Margarita? Dos, Por favor?
Bdelloid Hammerheads.
RickD:
No! The moment I read your contribution I recognized that I was already hearing that song in my head!
That is funny.
Thanks.
Don’t worry guys, we won’t be getting rid of you all yet. Some of us still need someone around to open the pickle jars…
“What’s wrong with leaving a few bite marks?”
Likewise, what’s wrong with a swift kick to the nut sack?
Oh wait, you mean I should have *asked* if you wanted to be kicked first? Silly me.
>:)
Or female. Or both.
Or female. Or both.
This puts all those satirical jeezuz fish with fins and teeth in a whole new light.
Bow doen before her toothy holyness.
Reply to #2
In shark sex, presumedly since sharks first appeared, copulation usually involves the male biting the pectoral fin of the female in order to get into the appropriate position. From what can be observed, it’s always painful and involves lots of struggling.
“I could have told her that Nebraska is no place for a self-respecting shark to look for a boyfriend.”
I literally laughed out loud. She would do much better in the singles bars on the Upper West Side in NYC. OTOH the competition is pretty fierce there, cold-blooded predator wise. (And yes, I know that some sharks are endotherms.)
Those Satin’s spawn devil stingrays killed our cartilaginous savior! The end is nigh!
Hey! Jesus could have been a Komodo dragon!
I figured out that they were evil back when they slew the Prophet Irwin, causing much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
“What’s wrong with leaving a few bite marks?”
Hey, these ain’t just puny monkey teeth.
Komodo dragons, sharks, whiptails… All the cool animals are doing it. How long before humans figure out how to parthenogene…size?
Please. Shark teeth were designed for cracking open water chestnuts, not for having sex.
As for Jesus, the Holy Scriptures make it abundantly clear that hammerheads were involved not at the beginning, but at the end, of his Earthly life.
Does this mean people will worship the shark now? I could just see some crazy kook saying it’s Jesus reincarnated.
Sharks remind me of the alien species from Alien: a virtually perfect organism, ideally adapted to survive in its environment.
I doubt ‘perfect’ can be very meaningful when discussing biology, but you’ve gotta admit, sharks are elegantly designed.
Did anyone check on what Troy McClure was doing nine months ago? When he said he spent a couple of days in the tank, I didn’t think he meant…
…you’ve gotta admit, sharks are elegantly designed.
Still, the designer could provide some upgrades now and then. How about an optional swim bladder?
Mammals do some imprinting that makes it impossible. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3643847.stm
(No idea if that holds for all mammals, though mice and men are rather closely related.)
Mammals do some imprinting that makes it impossible. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3643847.stm
(No idea if that holds for all mammals, though mice and men are rather closely related.)
I’ll third the Shriekback. I hear that song in my head every time I
read about hammerheads. Highly recommended. Apropos of nothing, but
sometime in mid 2001, I played that track, and my younger brother,
hearing it for probably the first or time in many years, remarked that
it sounded like a description of the Republican party…
‘We are big and clever and we don’t know anything’ …
“From what can be observed, it’s always painful and involves lots of struggling.”
You say that like it’s a bad thing. Some people are into that, you know. ;)
Still, the designer could provide some upgrades now and then. How about an optional swim bladder?
Look, hammerheads already have placenta, next they’ll be wanting warm-blood, like the Great White (and other lamnid sharks).
Heretics! Have you forgotten your allegiance? Or need I remind you what happens to sharks when they get out of line?
LOL… yeah I’m going to University of Nebraska Medical Center grad program right now and I agree with the boyfriend part! I had to bring a guy from Minnesota with me haha! Anyway I hope all is well :)
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Some people are into that, you know. ;)”
hahaha! rape is so funny!
interesting that only men think so, huh.