Condors Had 'Virgin Births' Despite Having Access to Fertile Mates, a First For Birds
The births marked the first documentation of asexual reproduction in an avian species where the female bird had access to a mate. Both of the female condors were consistently housed with a fertile male and produced several offspring with mates over the years, according to an SDZWA press release.
Results from a recent study by US wildlife scientists found that two female California condors gave birth to chicks without any male genetic DNA, BBC reported.
“This is truly an amazing discovery,” Oliver Ryder, director of conservation genetics at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) and a co-author of the study, said in a press release. “We only confirmed it because of the normal genetic studies we do to prove parentage. Our results showed that both eggs possessed the expected male ZZ sex chromosomes, but all markers were only inherited from [female condors], verifying our findings.”