Slideshow: Virgin Birth Not So Miraculous in Animal Kingdom

‘Tis the season for twinkling lights, wrapping paper, and virgin birth. For billions of Christians around the world, the holidays are a time to celebrate Jesus’s birth to the Virgin Mary. But for many animals, virgin birth is far from a miraculous event. Researchers have discovered a growing number of species that reproduce without assistance from the opposite sex.

Known formally as parthenogenesis, virgin birth occurs when an embryo develops from an unfertilized egg cell. The development of an embryo usually requires genetic material from sperm and egg, as well as a series of chemical changes sparked by fertilization. In some parthenogenetic species, egg cells don’t undergo meiosis, the typical halving of the cell’s chromosomes, before dividing into new cells. These offspring are generally all female and clones of their mother. Other forms of parthenogenesis occur when two egg cells fuse after meiosis.

Biologists think that sexual reproduction evolved as a way to mix the gene pool and reduce the impact of harmful mutations. Still, parthenogenesis can be beneficial if the mother is particularly well adapted to her environment, since all of her offspring will be just as well adapted.

Here’s a glimpse at some of the world’s most recently discovered parthenogenetic species:

Credit: National Prk Service

New Mexico whiptail (Aspidoscelis neomexicana)

Living in the deserts of the U.S. Southwest and parts of northern Mexico, the New Mexico whiptail is an all-female species of lizard. The creatures first arose as hybrids between two closely related species of sexually reproducing lizards: the little striped whiptail (A. inornata) and the tiger whiptail (A. tigris). Male hybrids aren’t viable, making this one of the few all-female species. Adult female New Mexico whiptails reproduce solely through parthenogenesis, laying unfertilized eggs that develop into other female whiptails.

Credit: Wikipedia

Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)

In 2006, staff members at two zoos in the United Kingdom identified two female Komodo dragons that each laid an unusual clutch of eggs. The eggs developed into healthy offspring, even though neither female had been in recent contact with a male of that species. Genetic testing confirmed parthenogenesis. Although most Komodo dragons in the wild continue to reproduce sexually, this giant lizard is one of a growing number of vertebrates that reproduce parthenogenetically in captivity. Scientists still aren’t sure what triggers the switch.

Credit: Wikipedia

Freshwater water flea (Daphnia magna)

Found across North America and Eurasia, Daphnia species mostly reproduce by parthenogenesis. In the spring and summer, a female D. magna will let her all-female offspring partially mature in her abdominal brood pouch. After several molts, these females will produce their own offspring by parthenogenesis. The onset of winter, drought, or other environmental stress will trigger some of D. magna's developing parthenogenetic offspring to become males, who then mate with the parthenogenetic females. This method of sexual reproduction produces eggs with an extra shell layer that lets them survive the stressful period.

Credit: Wim van Egmond/Visuals Unlimited Inc.

Bdelloid rotifers (Bdelloidea species)

Like the New Mexico whiptail, bdelloid rotifers are all female and reproduce entirely by parthenogenesis. Despite tens of millions of years of celibacy, these rotifers are an amazingly diverse group with more than 300 species. The animalsappear to offset a loss of genetic diversity by eating any DNA floating in their environment and incorporating it into their genome.

Credit: Wikipedia

Marmorkrebs (marbled crayfish)

The parthenogenetic form of the North American crayfish Procambarus fallax, marmorkrebs are a popular aquarium pet. Their capacity for virgin birth was first discovered in Germany in 2003, when aquarium owners noticed that crayfish housed alone were laying eggs that developed into healthy adults. Genetic analysis and laboratory experiments confirmed that the animals were reproducing through parthenogenesis. Ecologists worry that their accidental release into the wild could seriously harm native crayfish, because a single individual can start a self-sustaining population, leading some states to prohibit their ownership.

Credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo)

In 2001, a captive bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo), a type of hammerhead shark (pictured), gave birth to a normal-appearing female offspring. When the pup died several days later, researchers discovered that the DNA of the pup was identical to its mother’s. Because the mother had not been around any males for the previous 3 years, researchers confirmed that the pup developed through parthenogenesis.

Credit: Tom Brakefield/Stockbyte

Boa constrictor (Boa constrictor)

Until 2010, boas were thought to only reproduce sexually. But when a female boa produced several all-female litters that carried a rare genetic mutation, scientists from North Carolina State University in Raleigh performed a DNA fingerprint analysis. Although the genetic studies indicated that the female offspring were the result of parthenogenesis, researchers have yet to untangle the cellular factors that explain how and why this happened.

Credit: Animals Animals/Superstock

Cape honey bee (Apis mellifera capensis)

This native South African bee reproduces through a specific type of parthenogenesis known as thelytoky, in which diploid females (which carry the normal double set of chromosomes) develop from unfertilized eggs. What’s unusual in these animals is that worker bees can produce offspring by parthenogenesis. Typically, the sexually reproducing queen bee produces all of the eggs in the hive.

“Living in the deserts of the U.S. Southwest and parts of northern Mexico, the New Mexico whiptail is an all-female species of lizard. The creatures first arose as hybrids between two closely related species... Male hybrids aren’t viable, making this one of the few all-female species.”

It never ceases to amaze me how much scientists will contort their taxonomy in order to make it seem like “new species” are appearing. A hybrid, even if it can reproduce, is never a “new species”, just a mixture of existing breeds.

In fact, the existence of a hybrid is itself evidence that the progenitor species have been misclassified and shouldn’t be classed as separate species to begin with, but rather as different breeds or subspecies of a more inclusive species. For example, the fact that cats can nearly universally hybridize is common sense proof that the entire diversity, from lions and tigers down to housecats, simply the result of breeding, and not any other type of “speciation” event.

“From those with a theological bent, you are confounded by your own doctrines; Why couldn’t there be evolution? ALL things are within God’s purview.”

Ha! I’ve never heard that argument before, so I give you points for originality. It does kind of make sense, since it would basically take a miracle for Darwin’s just-so story to happen in reality, according to what we know of biology, physics, and genetics.

So, yes, all things are possible with God, and He could have miraculously caused evolution to happen. However, if we are examining it scientifically, we must exclude the possibility of miracles from our assessment, and conclude that it’s not a very plausible explanation, scientifically. The only reason it is accepted is that, as implausible as it is, science hasn’t come up with a more plausible theory, because anything more plausible would seem to have to posit a supernatural cause of some form, which science does not do. They’ve trapped themselves into defending an unsatisfactory theory because that theory is the natural consequence of their a prior assumptions.

We have the technology to do virgin births today. In fact, this may have already been done.

Just do a surrogate pregnancy in a woman who has not had intercourse with a man. [ . . . ]

I think you're the one confused about what virginity means.

It means a woman who has not had intercourse with a man.

I know what virginity is, but the discussion is about the Virgin Birth:

Virgin has to do with something remaining intact. The miracle of the Virgin Virth has to do not only with the Conceptionof Our Lord, but also that the mother remained intact during and after the birth. St. Augustine teaches this doctrine, that Our Lord passed through Our Lady like light through a pane of glass. Earlier known references to this go at least to the second century.

From "Modern Catholic Dictionary" (John A. Hardon)

Virginity of Mary. The revealed dogma that the Mother of Jesus conceived without carnal intercourse, gave birth to Christ without injury to her virginity"

So, even if conception took place without carnal intercourse, the delivery , either natural or through C-section, would break the virginity. The surrogate pregnancy still requires physical violation of the mother's womb by means of a physical instrument, and would not count, even in no actual breakage occurred.

You may not agree with the dogma, but the Virgin Birth, at least for Catholics, always includes the birth canal remaining intact through delivery. It NEVER comes up with people or animals, so it is not used in describing anybody else.

Parthenogenesis always produces FEMALE offspring.

As for the virgin birth of Jesus, we are not given the details, but I do not think that there can have been an actual birth of a human being without a human father. It is genetically impossible. The story is meant allegorically.

The New Testament twice makes it clear that Jesus was ”of the house and lineage of David,” the former king, and that this connection was on the side of Joseph, his father. It is a straight male line, which is the way heredity was recorded in preexilic times. Without an earthly, biological father, there could be no linear connection to David.

So, prepare the faggots and start up the fire, if you think that this makes me a heretic. But I think that the connection of Jesus to God is a spiritual one. The concept of a Son of God was already afloat in Hebrew religious circles at the time. It looks as if people outside the tradition tried to reify the concept excessively. That is my guess: but all things are possible to God.

Anyway, nice try; but parthenogenesis it is not.

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