Shark Gives "Virgin Birth" in Detroit

Shark Gives "Virgin Birth" in Detroit

news.nationalgeographic.com

A female white spotted bamboo shark at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit surprised zookeepers in July by giving birth to two babies. Why the surprise? It was a virgin birth: She hadn't been near a male for six years.

The mother, who has been housed in a tank with a female brown banded bamboo shark for the last six years, laid a clutch of eggs in April.

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This is an interesting case, I just now saw it in Time Magazine and Googled for it. Nature is so remarkable and stuff like this shows just how little we know about it in the scope of all things. If you're a Christian I suppose you could take comfort in this, but I think the biggest thing to take from this is just how little we know about everything. Once we recognize just how little we know...then we'll start to know something.

news.nationalgeographic.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by yellowcard


On the contrary, a virgin birth in nature actually hinders the christian point of view. According to the bible it is something done by god, but if it occurs naturally in other species, that would give less legitimacy to the claim of Jesus the son of god, and more to the claim of a fatherless son.

So the Second Coming has begun.

always knew the story of the virgin birth sounded fishy

sure i heard of this a while ago (pre ats time) or its a similar story

yes the second coming has begun....



a perfect sequel for Jaws IMO lol

Originally posted by ninthaxis
reply to post by yellowcard

 

On the contrary, a virgin birth in nature actually hinders the christian point of view. According to the bible it is something done by god, but if it occurs naturally in other species, that would give less legitimacy to the claim of Jesus the son of god, and more to the claim of a fatherless son.

Not really, it lends legitimacy to the Christian claim, it's hard to explain but you really have to put a definition on "God" if you say it doesn't lend legitimacy towards the Jesus story, which is more or less impossible. You would have to assume that "God" is a man in the sky with limited power, as opposed to God is everywhere and everything. Frankly modern Christians seem to go with the man in the sky theme, but there is probably a deeper meaning to the actual story of Jesus.

reply to post by yellowcard


I am sure you do not wish to make the claim that god is everywhere and everything. That statement would include evil, which is theologically impossible. Yes, the god of the bible has his limitations. He cannot go against his laws, or he would cease to be.

But thats beside the point. The point of a virgin birth for Jesus was to set him apart from others, make him unique, to show that he was special and the circumstances would warrant those to call him Messiah. If a shark can have a virgin birth, than the baby shark has just as much claim to be the son of god as Jesus did.

Fair play to the animal kingdom... about time i say!

But haven't we always known that plants are asexual, as are fish and toads.... and let's be honest, despite the cartilage, teeth and brain, there's not toooo much difference between a shark and fish / toad?

Go nature i say....

reply to post by ninthaxis


That's a weak argument. Since you've got everything down, where would the male Y chromosome come from since Jesus was a male and females only have two X chromosomes?

reply to post by ghaleon12


I don't think you understand my position. I am not arguing for the validity of the virgin birth. I am saying it is a natural (although rare) event and holds no significance one way or the other.

This is very intresting.

I would like to see some more experments with this.
See if it can be reproduced.

Take a shark egg, and incubate it for a period, until it hatachs...

very intresting.

So are they going to keep the baby sharks in a cage? Or allow them to spread the "Word" throughout the seas?

Good question, I also wonder what the gender of this virgin birth shark is (as one of the above posters got me thinking about this by bringing up the Y chromosome)? If virgin birth capability was hereditary, that would make for quite the interesting study. May be how asexual reproduction came about.

Are they sure the other shark is a female? If is was a female are they sure it still is? I remember reading about a desert lizard that could change it sex. If there was a shortage of male lizards some of the females could change there sex to male. Do not know if they could change back or not and I know lizards are not sharks.

So the angel Gabriel's been feeling a bit randy, eh? But with a shark? In Detroit?!?!!

As a native Detroiter, it's nice to see our much-maligned city in the news for something other than crime, political corruption or the failing auto industry.

And please, nobody need mention football, okay?

The shark was under extreme duress(stress). This was more likely what cause the virgin birth.

Should we start worshiping this shark?

Seems like a wise thing to do.

Originally posted by 12.21.12
Should we start worshiping this shark?

Only if it can hit an open receiver.

reply to post by ItsTheQuestion



My wife is a Lions fan, don't know how, she's never even been to Michigan. I laugh all the time, but it's not much better for me most of the time, especially this year. I am a fan of the other winless football team.