Stories of virgin births, where young are produced without fertilisation, have been told throughout history. Mars the ancient Roman god, Horus the ancient Egyptian god and Qi from ancient Chinese mythology were all born to virgins. But virgin births actually do happen in the natural world.
The first evidence of a virgin birth in crocodiles has been reported in a captive American crocodile, Crocodylus acutus, who was housed on her own for 16 years in a zoo in Costa Rica. She laid a clutch of 14 eggs, of which seven seemed viable and were artificially incubated. The eggs failed to hatch and the contents of six of them were indiscernible. But one contained a fully formed foetus, genetically identical to its mother, showing no evidence of input from any males.
