Miscellaneous
Dr. Kevin Feldheim is interested in shark sex. Okay, shark reproduction. Like most vertebrates, sharks and their relatives reproduce sexually-- but while studying critically endangered sawfish (a very cool, very threatened cartilaginous fish), Kevin and his colleagues discovered something shocking: the female fish had given birth to clones, without having mated. It was the first time this phenomena had been studied in the wild for this species. Listen to hear the rest of the story. Read the paper here: Facultative parthenogenesis in a critically endangered wild vertebrate, from Current Biology. Learn more about the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice DNA Discovery Center at the Field Museum! --- Where are you in the world? Give us a listen! Record 30-45 seconds of your environment and email it to us at exploreastory(at)fieldmuseum(dot)org, with the subject line: "OK to share- EAS." Please include your name & location in the recording! By sending us the file you're giving us permission to use it at the end of a future episode or another Brain Scoop-related project, so thank you in advance. --- ExploreAStory is written and hosted by Emily Graslie, produced by Sheheryar Ahsan and Brandon Brungard, with music by Jason Weidner, and made with support from the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois.