Stingray Gets Pregnant With No Males Around, Turns Out She Did Not Get Impregnated By A Shark Or Self-Reproduce, It's Much Weirder Than Both

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky
Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
Mar 4, 2024 11:00 AM EST

There are some things in nature that will forever leave us baffled, some things that… are mysteries that may never be perfectly explained. Things like learning the truth about fossils in the Appalachian mountains or why some caves and structures look just like prehistoric petrified animals or… why the heck do octopuses sometimes punch fish for no reason other than spite? There is so much to discover, so many questions to answer, to many amazing things that we can learn about the animal world and nature in general. 

But at the end of the day, some things about nature we will never understand, and we thought that the unexpectedly pregnant stingray in today's thread would be one of them. We thought that there must be some simple explanation for why a stingray in an enclosure without any males in it suddenly got pregnant. But we were wrong. We were so… so wrong. 

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  • 01
    Danielle @toepacktoe Never in a million years did I think this was going to be the topic of the vent 4:06 PM. Feb 15, 2024 10M Views 546 22K ... 327K 13K ↑
    via @toepacktoe
  • 02
    I need to vent Today 7:52 AM There's a pregnant stingray in NC and there was 0 male stingrays in the enclosure. They think she either self reproduced (sting Jesus) or one of the 2 male sharks in the encounter got her knocked up (shark ray) Hit me Read 8:20 AM
    via @toepacktoe

    When we saw this at first, weeks ago, we thought it was weird. Yes, we did. Of course we did. But we didn't think it would go anywhere. Simply a strange text exchange between two people talking about something weird that is probably perfectly easily explainable. Oh, how wrong we were. 

  • 03
    Hank Green @hankgreen FYI Charlotte the stingray is not pregnant with shark rays (unfortunately impossible) but she is also not pregnant with clones of herself (also impossible) it's much weirder than that. 7:31 PM. Feb 26, 2024 8.7M Views 292 t5.9K 92K : 10K ↑
    via @hankgreen

    When Hank says that it's much weirder than a stingray having a baby with a shark or a stingray getting pregnant with clones of itself… Hank is not lying. You may think it's impossible for something to be weirder than those two things, and that makes you normal. That makes you the innocent summer child that we were too before reading this thread. 

  • 04
    Hank Green @hankgreen Charlotte the stingray procreates sexually, which means she isn't set up to create clones. Her egg cells have half of her genome with a random mix of genes from her father and mother. Usually that would get fertilized with sperm with half of another stingray's genome. 7:31 PM. Feb 26, 2024 742.9K Views 8 196 13K : 97 ↑
    via @hankgreen
  • 05
    Hank Green @hankgreen Charlotte can't just not use an egg cell to make babies. She has to. So an evolutionary hack developed where some animals can fertlize their own eggs. In the case of sharks and rays, this is done with a by product of meiosis called a "polar body" that is usually discarded. 7:31 PM. Feb 26, 2024 726.7K Views 8 101 11K : 87 ↑
    via @hankgreen
  • 06
    Hank Green @hankgreen The polar body also has half of charlotte's genome, with a random selection of genes from her father and mother. That means, when the polar body and the egg fuse, she is creating an organism that only has genes from Charlotte, but is still not a clone. 7:31 PM. Feb 26, 2024 692.2K Views 4 120 11K 98 ...
    via @hankgreen
  • 07
    Hank Green @hankgreen Some points in the genome will be identical to Charlotte, with a gene from her mother and one from her father. But other spots will have one gene from her mom and...the same exact gene from her mom. Other spots will have a gene from her dad and that exact same gene again. 7:31 PM. Feb 26, 2024 675.8K Views 2771 9.9K 61 :
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  • 08
    S Hank Green @hankgreen 7 This is bad. It means any bad genes don't have a backup. Evolutionarily, it's better than just dying and not passing any genes on, which is why the hack evolved. But it's not good! It's WAY more inbred than making pups with a sibling, for example. 7:31 PM. Feb 26, 2024 · 592.8K Views 117 11K ... 75
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  • 09
    5 Hank Green @hankgreen 17 She's literally making babies with herself! The most inbred possible thing you can do. The babies may very well be healthy! But it's not the kind of thing you want to do multiple generations in a row. 7:31 PM. Feb 26, 2024 605.5K Views 302 14K : 112
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  • 10
    Hank Green @hankgreen Anyway, this takes nothing away from Charlotte's accomplishments. She is a good stingray. 7:31 PM. Feb 26, 2024 · 576.1K Views 56 518 28K 141
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  • 11
    cj Q2 @Jenaine77 So basically she's giving birth to her siblings....? 8:06 PM. Feb 26, 2024 441.7K Views . 224 1.9K
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  • 12
    3 Hank Green @hankgreen Alas, no! Genetically, I think it's like she had kids with her sibling, and then those kids had kids with each other. 8:15 PM. Feb 26, 2024 423.3K Views 39 1 65 7.9K 92 ... ↑
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  • 13
    pecansalon @johannB Or like she had kids with her identical twin? 8:39 PM Feb 26, 2024 76.9K Views 92 178 773
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  • 14
    Hank Green @hankgreen Yes...it is exactly like this (but possibly worse epigenetically). 8:49 PM. Feb 26, 2024 83.6K Views 9 CI 17 2.7K 30
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  • 15
    R. T. Jenkins @RTJenkinsAuthor Thank you for facilitating this conversation with van Suny rays produce with sharks?? What will that look like?? 2:111 34 Q shark stingray baby Can a stingray and a shark have a baby? But when it comes to the stingray and its shark counterparts, can they make pups? Lyons told the AP this theory is impossible. The two animals are different sizes, all? the animals wouldn't match up anatomically. 1 day ago But... they did?? Or she self reproduced but why even put that
    via @RTJenkinsAuthor
  • 16
    !! I saw that!! Its CRAZY can sting rays produce with sharks?? What will that look like?? 2:11 1 a shark stingray baby Can a stingray and a shark have a baby? But when it comes to the stingray and its shark counterparts, can they make pups? Lyons told the AP this theory is impossible. The two animals are different sizes, the animals wouldn't match up anatomically. 1 day ago https://www.usatoday.com > nation Did shark, stingray mate at North Carolina aquarium? Expert weighs in But... they did?? O
    via @RTJenkinsAuthor
  • 17
    Lmaoo theyre making us all confused to cover up the truth I'm not confused, this is obviously the second coming of Christ and the end times are upon us Never thought it would happen like this Whos the anti christ?? WHAT Brookfield Zoo Welcomes Baby Shark Via Rare 'Virgin Birth.' If That's Not Amazing Enough, It A... news.wttw.com Found
    via @RTJenkinsAuthor
  • 18
    Danielle @toepacktoe Whose the anti christ 10:21 PM. Feb 15, 2024 383.3K Views 97 31 7.3K
    via @toepacktoe

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