![]() Secondly, it was in a California condor! A critically endangered scavenger that is potentially a very important part of an ecosystem. Firstly, this is one of the first observations of successful facultative parthenogenesis in an avian species. But why does it matter?” Great question! The answer is a lot of reasons. I know you read this and thought: “That sounds awesome. In 2021, scientists discovered the first instance of successful facultative parthenogenesis in California condors! After extensive genetic testing, scientists determined that two chicks born in 20 had no evidence of male paternity and were completely genetically related to only their mothers. Now here is the breaking news that brings these two pieces of information that I just shared with you together. It is nowhere near common in avian species - there have been parthenogenically fertile eggs observed in domestic poultry, for example, but it is exceedingly rare and not often successful. It is a phenomenon observed often in reptiles/amphibians and has also been witnessed in some fish species. To put it simply parthenogenesis is a mode of asexual reproduction in which young develop only from a female egg, without fertilization from a male of the same species. If you’re not a biologist, you may not know what the term parthenogenesis means. Switch gears with me very quickly, and I am going to introduce another concept that is important to this blog post. There are now over 500 in zoological settings, and wild populations are on the rise (although they are still considered critically endangered). While we do not have California condors here at the Zoo, we do have other vulture species, including one New World vulture species, the king vulture.Ĭalifornia condors have specifically been the subject of study since 1980, when scientists captured the remaining 27 wild birds and created a captive breeding program to restore wild populations. As the largest living North American land bird, it is the only surviving member of the Gymnogyps genus of New World Vultures. ![]() If you’re an avid birder, like me, or even just a general bird enthusiast, you have probably heard of the California condor.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |