27 June 2007

How did Tidbit get pregnant?

I read a news article from Cebu Daily News (dated June 27, 2007) that really caught my attention. It talked about a shark, Tidbit, which was believed to be pregnant without having "sex." Poor Tidbit....

SHARK PREGNANCY BAFFLES AQUARIUM

NORFOLK, Virginia – Veterinarian Bob George sliced open the dead shark and saw the outline of a fish. No surprise there, since sharks digest their food slowly.



Then George realized he wasn’t looking at the stomach of the blacktip reef shark, but at her uterus. In it was a perfectly formed, 10-inch long shark pup that was almost ready to be born.


George was dumbfounded.


He had been examining the shark, Tidbit, to figure out why she reacted badly to routine sedatives during a physical and died, hours after biting an aquarium curator on the shin. Now there was a bigger mystery: How did Tidbet get pregnant?


“We must have had hanky panky” in the shark tank, he thought.


But sharks only breed with sharks of the same species, and there were no male blacktip reef sharks at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach.



Could Tidbit have defied nature, resulting in the first known shark hybrid?

The other possibility was that Tidbit had conceived without needing a male at all.

A recent study had documented the first confirmed case of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, among sharks: a pup born at a Nebraska zoo came from an egg that developed in a female shark without sperm from a male.


One of the scientists who worked on that study contacted the aquarium, which sent him tissue samples from Tdibit and her pup for testing. If the pup’s DNA turns out to contain no contribution from a male shark, this would be the second known case of shark parthenogenesis. (AP)

In my research, though, some sharks do really get pregnant even though there's none presence of sperm. According to Wikipedia.com (a little bit of shark-not-having-sex-but-getting-pregnant history):


SHARKS
In 2001 a bonnethead, a type of small hammerhead shark was thought to have produced a pup, born live on the 14th December 2001, in captivity in a tank containing three female hammerheads but no males; thought to be through parthenogenic means at Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska. The shark pup was apparently killed by a stingray within three days of birth.[16] The investigation of the birth was conducted by the research team from Queen's University Belfast, the Southeastern University in Florida, and Henry Doorly Zoo itself and concluded after DNA testing that the reproduction took place under parthenogenic circumstances. The testing showed the pup's DNA matched only one female that lived in the tank, and that no male DNA was present in the pup. The pup was not a twin or clone of the mother, but rather contained only half her DNA ("automictic parthenogenesis"). The type of reproduction exhibited had been seen before in bony fish but never in cartilaginous fish such as sharks.

In 2002, two white-spotted bamboo sharks were born at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit after hatching 15 weeks after laying. The birth baffled experts as the mother shared an aquarium with only one other female shark. The female bamboo sharks had laid eggs in the past. This is not unexpected, as many animals will lay infertile eggs even if there is not a male to mate with. Normally, the eggs are assumed to be infertile and are discarded. This batch was left alone by the curator as he had heard about the previous birth in 2001 in Nebraska.


Other possibilities had been considered for the birth of the Detroit bamboo sharks included thoughts that the sharks had been fertilized by a male and stored the sperm for a period of time and also the possibility that the Belle Isle bamboo shark is a hermaphrodite, harboring both male and female sex organs, and capable of fertilizing its own eggs.


The repercussions of self fertilization in sharks, which reduces the genetic diversity of the offspring, is a matter of concern for shark experts, taking into consideration conservation management strategies for this species, particularly in areas where there may be a shortage of males due to fishing or environmental pressures.


Unlike Komodo dragons, which have a WZ chromosome system and produce male (ZZ) offspring by parthenogenesis, sharks have an XY chromosome system, so they produce only female (XX) offspring by parthenogenesis. As a result, sharks cannot restore a depleted male population through parthenogenesis, so an all-female population must come in contact with an outside male before normal sexual reproduction can resume.

24 June 2007

Melting of the Chocolate

photographed by Gerwin Bhuyo

The arrows of the sun melt the chocolate doll
Away in her sleep, her inevitable call.
Pronounced bones showing the kind of work
Making her dusky sweat out of sort.

Five.Four.Three.Two.One.

Fireflies are stars in the green carpet
As the chocolate doll dances without fret.
Her soft hands touch the silky moon
And heaven widens to give more tune.

One.Two.Three.Four.Five.

Wake up and work as it always seems
Putting fireflies in the pedestal of dreams.
Presence should be there or things will be falling

And once again, it's time for chocolate melting.


21 June 2007

Nest-mesmerized

What makes a house a home?

I’ve discovered yesterday afternoon a bird’s nest outside our office building. It was my first time to see up-close a bird’s nest…I even touched it.

I went like this to my officemates: “Hala nest! Naay nest! Naa diri! Cute kaayo! Tan-awa ninyo ang nest!"

Just imagine my ignorance and delight and my fascination and my clapping of hands with matching jump of “hurrahs”…just can’t hide my “joy” over this….NEST. I was thrilled. Probably, that feeling of seeing David Beckham doing the striptease for me. Awrrrhha……

I even went afar imagining myself hosting one of the episodes in National Geographic Channel…dubbing the episode as “Wonders of Twigs” or can also be “Mini Structures” or “Wild Wonders”…And I dropped the thought. It’s been ages ago that I shelved the idea of becoming one of the world’s sought-after discoverers of the unknowns.

Back to the nest. It was an amazing architecture. Who would have thought that ordinary twigs, which people and animals stepped on, can be used as materials for a good shelter. It was safely placed and cushioned among the branches of plants. I shook the branches…the nest was undisturbed. I shook harder…the nest stayed put…I shook more…then a little head popped out…And, unlikely, I felt guilty.

There it was…a “baby bird” (sounds improper)…or shall I say, a “birdlet”…Its mouth was wide open, waiting for some food from the mother. Or maybe crying for help because an alien invaded their home.

The “birdlet” created some noise at that time, maybe feeling the threat of my intrusion. So, I just left it there...letting nature take its stride.

the nest

the "birdlet"

20 June 2007

Refuge

Have you thought of just shutting your eyes close? So forceful that you can feel your eyeballs sipping into your throat and tear ducts exploding the last drop of its salty liquid. When you just purse your lips and hold your breath and think nothing. And clench your fists so hard beside your hips that you can feel your arms getting stiff. And you're not breathing...you're simply just holding the air within.

And when you exhale.And let go of your fingers. And open your eyes....How you wish there is only one person you see. And a warm hug will do.

17 June 2007

cutie Baby Athalia
**the innocent and the corrupts**

16 June 2007

Facade

You see colors and glitters
You are touched by the smile
You praise the tongue of wisdom
And envy laughter’s flight.
Halfway, it is a joke and
The other is a game.
Happiness is at its peak, but
Just look and feel it.

Deceived that’s what you are
Downpour of disguise
You never saw it
Need your heart to feel it.

It’s just a façade
The real thing is right inside.



Renaissance

It’s 16th of June 2007 and I’m back to blogging. This is the real something that I truly missed doing for the past few years – free writing, wild expression, poetry, whines and laughs rolled into words.