After living alone in a Costa Rican zoo for 16 years, a biblical-like "miracle" happened: an 18-year-old female crocodile laid 14 eggs, despite never having a male partner. Seven eggs appeared to be fertile and were quickly artificially incubated. One included an unviable female fetus.
The news was first announced in a paper published in the journal Biology Letters this week and is certainly novel. It's the first time scientists have recorded in an American crocodile successful parthenogenesis, which is asexual reproduction and Greek for "virgin birth."
