1. In a paper published on October 28 2021, in the peer-reviewed Journal of Heredity, scientists from the San Diego Zoo revealed that at least two California condors born over the last 40 years or so are biologically fatherless. A genetic database maintained since the 1980s showed no trace whatsoever of paternal genes in their DNA.
2. No one knows whether reproducing asexually is a new talent for California condors. Maybe the species has always been capable of it. California condors almost went extinct in the 1980s, and they are still endangered. Because of this, the number of animals in the genetic database is too small for anyone to address the question reasonably.
Comments are closed.