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Immaculate Conception In a Boa Constrictor
crudmonkey writes "Researchers have discovered a biological shocker: female boa constrictors are capable of giving birth asexually. But the surprise doesn't end there. The study in Biology Letters found that boa babies produced through this asexual reproduction — also known as parthenogenesis — sport a chromosomal oddity that researchers thought was impossible in reptiles. While researchers admit that the female in the study may have been a genetic freak, they say the findings should press researchers to re-think reptile reproduction. Virgin birth among reptiles, especially primitive ones like boas, they argue may be far commoner than ever expected."
This can only fuel the cult of Raptor Jesus to unimaginable new heights.
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Immaculate conception != virgin birth.
A lot of people make the mistake of equating "Immaculate Conception" to the virgin birth of Jesus. Actually, it refers to the birth of Mary (mother of Jesus) being born without Original Sin. What the author is referring to is the Annunciation, which is the virgin conception of Jesus within Mary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception
This is not what Immaculate Conception means. The Immaculate Conception is the conception of Mary, not of Jesus, with the idea being that Mary is conceived without original sin so as to make her a proper vessel for Jesus. Then again, since snakes don't have original sin, maybe every snake conception is immaculate.
Two WW chromosomes. In mammals, we have X and Y chromosomes to determine sex—but in reptiles, fish, and of course birds, the norm for a female is ZW, and the norm for a male is ZZ. This brought to you by Tilde R: Helping Those Who Hate RTFA.
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Asexual reproduction isn't the same as virgin birth.
For all we know, that snake is a slut.
It's not immaculate conception, it's a virgin birth. They are different. Immaculate conception means born without original sin (as in Mary was born without original sin and thus Christ was too). If you want more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception
I know this is a common misunderstanding but it is incorrect. I'm not Catholic, I've just been corrected about it in the past and thought I'd pass on the knowledge.
I always wondered where telemarketers came from.
Also direct links to the study are here and here(pdf). The paper is "Evidence for viable, non-clonal but fatherless Boa constrictors" by Warren Booth, Daniel H. Johnson, Sharon Moore, Coby Schal, and Edward L. Vargo.
welcome our new immaculate boa overlords (or shall I say overladys?).
A more thorough article (with better grammar) is available at BBC News.
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Interesting tidbit: The vast majority of known snake species are capable of swimming. Get a snake washed out to sea, let it drift between islands on flotsam, and with this mutation, a lone female is suddenly capable of being the foundation of a new population in a new ecosystem.
While not advantageous to individuals, this female-only birth trait would be a powerful force in mass extinction events, as it leads to a diverse set of multiply adaptive groups being formed, each specialized in a different direction for a different ecosystem niche. If a meteor equivalent hits, and all the rules of living change to some degree, you have a greater chance of having some in the right niche to survive.
The downside is if female-only births become too common, you stand a chance of losing genetic diversity in the smaller groups - so it being in the background like this, only occasionally popping up makes sense for a species that might have gained benefit from it in more ancient life cycles.
Ryan Fenton
I notice that this article is slowly working it's way down the homepage without even a First Post - perhaps all you men feel slightly inadequate now there's proof that yes, we women can do without you! Cue Anonymous Coward's relentless troll-biting and the silent army of female-hating Mods! GO!
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"Commoner"?! - You mean "more common". I guess you'll tell me that 'commoner' sounds betterer....
Snakes are probably the best candidate you can find, for an animal that does have it. A bit more deserving than newborns actually, don't you think?
One that hath name thou can not otter
I thought that referred to Jesus being born without sin rather than to Mary being a virgin.
Which is quite ironic given the part the snake plays in the garden of eden...
> Last time this sort of thing happened, I remember it didn't end
> well for the fellow. What was his name?
I'm not really up on Christian doctrine, but from reading the rest of this discussion, I believe you are referring to Raptor Jesus.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
What occurred in Jurassic Park was a stress-induced gender change due to a lack of males in the area - creating males out of adult females.
That must have shocked the hell out of the lesbian raptor coven. Maybe that's why they were so pissed throughout the whole movie.
The idea that sex == sin is ridiculous since God basically told people to go out and have loads of sex. Directly.
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You mean the whole "Go Forth and Multiply" line?
I don't think he specified Asexually or not, or who knows, maybe he just wanted us to work on our Mad Minute Math skills.