Sharks 'virgin' lays many records

Living in a desert hotel, completely isolated from male sharks, but a ' sharks ' named Zebedee is still extremely ' quick'.

>>>Unexpected facts about sharks

According to National Geographic , Zebedee has been giving birth for four consecutive years, even though it is in a "virgin" state completely. This is an unprecedented frequency of sharks in nature, said oceanographer David Robinson.

Four years, four pregnancies

Experts from Burj Al Arab resort area - dubbed the most luxurious tourist paradise in the world today - have seen Zebedee lay eggs before. However, they think that the eggs cannot hatch into baby sharks, because Zebedee has never been exposed to any male sharks.

Scientists speculate that the possibility of virgin birth
I have every shark. (Photo: National Geographic)

Resort staff said they found out that Zebedee was pregnant for the first time in 2007. 'We were clearing eggs to the warehouse and found something moving inside the egg. We then scanned the eggs with lights and found out there were shark sharks inside , 'Mr. Robinson told the BBC.

Not a clone

In fact, the phenomenon of virgin giving birth is not unprecedented in sharks. Embryos have developed from eggs that are not fertilized by sperm. And although baby sharks have very similar genomes to Zebedee, they are not identical in asexual style.'The DNA of the mother shark has been combined during pregnancy,' the scientists said.

Virgin births are common in many reptiles, invertebrates and some vertebrate animals such as hammerhead sharks, black fin sharks .

General characteristics of sharks?

'Because of this many species of sharks have this ability, I believe there is a reason to speculate that every shark species can give birth without fertilization , ' argues biologist Ray Chapman. This may be an evolutionary adaptation for species to overcome difficult times, when habitats change or similar reasons.

'For example, sharks will have the advantage of invading new territories: they don't need to look for male sharks where they want to live.'

Of course, females who give birth to babies are definitely not as good as real mates with male sharks, because it seems like the number of eggs that female sharks produce is not as much as when having partners.