Let’s Talk about Parthenogenesis

If a condor can give birth without a male — Can we?

Photo by Nick Kwan on Unsplash

This past week, a California condor surprised scientists by laying a fertilized egg and hatching a chick without any contribution from a Condor male. Or, as the National Geographic’s playful headline explains: “Endangered birds experience ‘virgin birth,’ a first for the species.” The phenomenon is called parthenogenesis…