New ultrasound of Charlotte the 'virgin stingray' shows her pups alive and well ... trends now
Charlotte the stingray took the world by storm when a North Carolina aquarium announced her immaculate conception in early February.
Now, the Aquarium & Shark Lab in Hendersonville has released an ultrasound video of her pups moving their tails inside her womb and confirmed it will release more information tomorrow.
The team has previously said they don’t have a specific due date for the virgin stingray because an immaculate conception has never been observed in the animals before, but said she is pregnant with up to four pups and is expected to give birth soon.
Charlotte the stingray is expected to give birth any day now
The team at the Aquarium & Shark Lab in Hendersonville showed an ultrasound of the pups moving their tails inside Charlotte's womb
The aquarium's uncertainty over when Charlotte is due to give birth stems from the team’s inability to know exactly when she conceived, particularly because ultrasounds for stingrays are usually conducted in late-term pregnancies.
The cause of her pregnancy was also a mystery because there weren’t any male stingrays in the aquarium with her, but experts said it was most likely attributed to parthenogenesis – the scientific term for virgin birth.
When this happens, the stingray develops a cloned embryo of itself, which can happen when the mammal has been in isolation for a lengthy period of time.
The Aquarium & Shark Lab suggested Charlotte could have been impregnated by a shark, but experts said that's impossible
Stingray experts say Charlotte's 'miracle birth' is most likely due to parthenogenesis - a scientific term for virgin birth
‘They can become pregnant without observed mating with a male in two ways,’ Dr. Christopher Lowe, a professor of marine biology and director of the Shark Lab at California State University told Dailymail.com last week.
The first is that ‘many species of sharks and rays can store sperm for at least up to one year,’ but Lowe said it is unlikely because Charlotte has been on her own for too long.
‘Turns out that parthenogenesis is
