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Female shark due for ‘virgin birth’ at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre Female shark due for ‘virgin birth’ at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre
(about 20 hours later)
A female shark which has had no contact with males for more than two years is poised, biologists believe, to become a mother to two babies. A female shark could be set to give birth to two babies despite not having had contact with males for more than two years.
The white spotted bamboo shark arrived at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre in 2013 having been evacuated from the badly flooded sister centre in Hunstanton. Experts at the Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre have said that the white spotted bamboo shark has produced two fertile eggs which could hatch at any time after 15 weeks. 
She has been the only member of her species at the centre in that time and has had no contact with male sharks. The so-called virgin birth is known as parthenogenesis - a process which does not involve input from a male. It was recorded for the first time in sharks in 2001, and has since been seen in the bamboo, bonnethead, blacktip and zebra species.
But now experts at the centre have said she has produced two fertile eggs which are due to hatch in nine months time. Darren Gook, a marine biologist and shark expert, said: “Females somehow manage to add an extra set of chromosomes to their eggs to produce off-spring which are either clones or half-clones of themselves."
If the births are successful, the babies would be examples of an amazing phenomenon to conceive without a male which has only recently been identified in sharks. "The success rate [of the eggs hatching] is drastically reduced naturally through this method," Mr Gook told The Independent, adding that the team of conservationists at the Sea Life centre were keeping a close eye on the eggs to give them the best chance of surviving. They have been placed in a nursery tank where they will be available for visitors to view.
Marine biologist and shark expert Darren Gook said: “They will be the first such births in the Sea Life network and we’re excited and privileged to be expecting such a miraculous event.” If the eggs do hatch successfully, the sharks are likely to be the first born from a virgin birth in the UK.
The discovery of the two eggs comes within days of the announcement in Germany of a second generation virgin birth involving the same bamboo shark species at a research facility in Munich. Mr Gook said there were many "unanswered questions" about the biology of sharks and hoped that the centre would be able to add information to the field.
Mr Gook said: “The process is called ‘parthenogenesis’ and has long been known to occur in domestic chickens and some reptiles, but was not recorded in sharks until 2008.  
“Females somehow manage to add an extra set of chromosomes to their eggs to produce offspring which are either clones or half-clones of themselves. Recently, a research facility in Munich announced the second generation virgin birth of the same bamboo shark species. Mr Gook said this disproved the assumption that offspring born as a result of parthenogenesis were infertile.
“It’s been recorded in  bonnethead, blacktip and zebra sharks as well as white spotted bamboos. Mr Gook added that asexual reproduction was a way to ensure the survival of species if there was a drastic decline in numbers making it harder for males and females to locate each other.
“It was assumed offspring born this way were infertile and it was an evolutionary dead end but events in Germany have now disproved that.” The shark arrived at the centre in 2013 after being evacuated from the flooded sister centre in Hunstanton.
Mr Gook added that one explanation of asexual reproduction is that it is nature’s way of ensuring the survival of the species if there is a drastic decline in numbers that make it harder for males and females to locate each other.  Additional reporting by PA
The two eggs have been removed to the safety of a nursery tank where visitors will  be able to see them and where they will be closely monitored for the full term of their development.
PA