• Donjuanme@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I don’t think it had ever been pregnant? I think I remember hearing it was cancer,

    Not to say that some species can’t self replicate, including some skates and rays I believe

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I don’t know the case here, but in case anyone is interested, animals that can self-impregnate are said to be parthenogenetic.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis

      (Most animal classes in the animal kingdom have parthenogenetic species, but there are no known cases in mammals that have not been artificially induced.)

      • lolrightythen@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        It’s weird, but it makes sense as a last ditch effort to bridge a population bottleneck. Just because we haven’t witnessed something doesn’t make it impossible.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I don’t mean to suggest it’s impossible. Clearly it is possible to artificially induce parthenogenesis in mammals because it has been done, although the offspring have not been healthy so far.