"Pregnant Stingray at North Carolina Aquarium Raises Questions of Immaculate Conception"

Charlotte, a stingray in a North Carolina aquarium, is pregnant despite not having been with a male for at least eight years. The pregnancy is likely due to parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction where a female egg is fertilized without the sperm from a male. This phenomenon has been observed in some species like insects, reptiles, and fish. Charlotte could give birth to as many as four young in the next two weeks, and this is the only documented example of this species reproducing in this manner.