Scientists Establish Virgin Births Are Possible  Click for the
story at Discovery News  Scientists Establish Virgin Births Are
Possible  Detail of The Annunciation - Caravaggio   Scientists
have long known that virgin births — a birth without the
participation of a male of the species — do in fact occur.
According to Warren Booth, co-author of a study published in
the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, such virgin
births have “now been observed to occur naturally within all
lineages of jawed vertebrates, with the exception of mammals. We
have recently seen genetic confirmation in species such as boa
constrictors, rainbow boas, various shark species, Komodo
dragons, and domestic turkeys, to name a few.”  The phenomenon
is known as parthenogenesis. It has never been observed in a
mammal, at least not by scientists.  In other cases, the females
of some species have been known to store male sperm within their
bodies for long periods — one rattlesnake did so for five years
— before giving birth. But actual