NewsCalifornia News

Actions

Study finds California condors can have "virgin births"

California condor
Posted
and last updated

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A new study says endangered California condors can have “’virgin births.”

Researchers with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance say genetic testing confirmed that two male chicks hatched from unfertilized eggs in 2001 and 2009 were related to their mothers. Neither was related to a male.

It’s the first report of asexual reproduction in California condors, although parthenogenesis can occur in other species ranging from sharks to honey bees to Komodo dragons.

But in birds, it usually only occurs when females don’t have access to males. In this case, each mother had a mate.

The study was published Thursday in the Journal of Heredity.

Sign up for our Morning E-mail Newsletter to receive the latest headlines in your inbox.

,

Weather

Daily Forecast

View Hourly Forecast

Day

Conditions

HI / LO

Precip

Monday

10/27/2025

Partly Cloudy

-° / 51°

7%

Tuesday

10/28/2025

Clear

78° / 53°

3%

Wednesday

10/29/2025

Clear

81° / 54°

1%

Thursday

10/30/2025

Mostly Clear

82° / 55°

2%

Friday

10/31/2025

Clear

79° / 54°

3%

Saturday

11/01/2025

Mostly Clear

79° / 55°

2%

Sunday

11/02/2025

Clear

79° / 57°

0%

Monday

11/03/2025

Clear

79° / 56°

1%