[HN Gopher] The first report of asexual reproduction in Californ...
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       The first report of asexual reproduction in California condors
        
       Author : bryan0
       Score  : 65 points
       Date   : 2021-10-30 17:15 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (apnews.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (apnews.com)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | sp332 wrote:
       | I was wondering how a female generated male genetic data. Bird
       | sex chromosomes are fuzzier than I expected.
       | https://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news115
        
         | gus_massa wrote:
         | It now very fuzzy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZW_sex-
         | determination_system Simplifying, they have the ZW system where
         | the ZZ are males and the ZW are females. (As in the mammalian
         | cases, there are some exceptions and cases where the number of
         | genes is different from 2.) The article you posted discuss too
         | much about how the ZZ or ZW determines the sex, and IIUC it's
         | still not clear if the W induce the femaleness or the double Z
         | induces maleness or what is happening, but the main idea that
         | distinguish the ZW system and the XY system is simple.
        
       | launchiterate wrote:
       | Ian Malcom was right!
        
       | enzino wrote:
       | overton window for males' extermination? nothing that comes out
       | of california can be trusted these days
        
         | WhisperingShiba wrote:
         | Based.
        
       | duskwuff wrote:
       | Believe it or not, this actually isn't all that uncommon in
       | birds. Certain types of turkeys and chickens will exhibit
       | parthenogenesis ("virgin birth") somewhat frequently.
       | 
       | https://rep.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/rep/155/6/REP-1...
        
         | culi wrote:
         | It's called parthenogenesis.[0] While it might not be super
         | uncommon in certain types of turkeys, it's extremely rare
         | overall for birds. It is a lot more common in fish, amphibians,
         | and reptiles however. Given that it's been well-observed in
         | reptiles, it makes me wonder how much it might actually be
         | happening in birds and we've just been failing to observe it.
         | 
         | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis
         | 
         | Also here's the actual study:
         | https://academic.oup.com/jhered/advance-article/doi/10.1093/...
        
       | 7952 wrote:
       | Life finds a way!
        
         | elromulous wrote:
         | Came here to say this lol
        
         | rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote:
         | *Life, uh, finds a way.
        
         | bryanrasmussen wrote:
         | Indeed, even if it seems that life doesn't actually 100% need
         | to.
         | 
         | Not so much finding a way as more not waiting around.
        
       | geuis wrote:
       | Can we update the link to point to the actual release from San
       | Diego Zoo?
       | https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/pr/CondorParthenogen...
        
       | encryptluks2 wrote:
       | This is how baby Jesus was born.
        
         | retrac wrote:
         | Condors are not raptors.
        
           | SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
           | Yes, they are. All the New-World Vultures (Cathartidae) are
           | in the order Accipitriformes[1].
           | 
           | [1] Chesser, R. T., R. C. Banks, F. K. Barker, C. Cicero, J.
           | L. Dunn, A. W. Kratter, I. J. Lovette, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V.
           | Remsen Jr., J. D. Rising, D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker (2010).
           | Fifty-first supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union
           | Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 127: 726-744.
        
       | GhettoComputers wrote:
       | >In this case, each mother condor had previously bred with males,
       | producing 34 chicks, and each was housed with a fertile male at
       | the time they produced the eggs through parthenogenesis.
       | 
       | >The researchers said they believe it is the first case of
       | asexual reproduction in any avian species where the female had
       | access to a mate.
       | 
       | Do they store some sort of marker? Both were male, reminiscent of
       | the insect family of hymenoptera which produces male drones with
       | no fertilization?
        
         | gus_massa wrote:
         | > _The asexual reproduction was discovered some years ago
         | during widespread testing of genetic material collected over
         | decades from condors, both living and dead, in breeding
         | programs and in the wild._
         | 
         | They just made a standard DNA paternity test, and got a
         | surprise.
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-30 23:01 UTC)