Updates on Charlotte the stingray’s asexual pregnancy have been posted on social media twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays by the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO on Main Street. The most recent update on Saturday, March 30th, said that Charlotte has not yet given birth to any pups.
The Miracle Pregnancy
When Team ECCO employees disclosed that the California round stingray was expecting after eight years without a male stingray in the tank, the story went viral across the country. Staff discovered that parthenogenesis, an asexual reproductive process in which a female may create an embryo without fertilizing an egg with sperm, is how Charlotte became pregnant. According to research scientist Kady Lyons of the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Charlotte will be the first known round stingray to conceive naturally through parthenogenesis. According to the ECCO team, even though the gestation period of the stingray is three to four months, the gestation period of a parthenogenetic pregnancy is unknown.
The ECCO team shared that they conducted a recent ultrasound. The reports and images of the ultrasound were sent to their colleagues in other professional science programs. The team shared that they are eagerly awaiting their responses. They also shared their gratitude to everyone for their continued support, kindness, and patience throughout Charlote’s journey.
Pregnancy Detection
Concerned that Charlotte might have a cyst, Team ECCO personnel conducted an ultrasound when they first saw a bulge on her in September. They forwarded the findings to an Arizona State University science department contact and a contact at a famous aquarium in Australia. According to B.J. Ramer, director of the aquarium, both contacts concluded that Charlotte was pregnant.
Charlotte has been with the aquarium since 2016. The assistant director, Kinsley Boyette, previously informed in an interview that they got the roundhead stingray from a private residence in Charlotte, later giving her the name. Boyette reported that they had installed three cameras in the tank to monitor Charlotte. She shared that they are monitoring Charlotte throughout the day and night. Even if they are not physically present at the aquarium, the cameras help them monitor her. She also added that they are on pup watch. She shared that after the pregnancy, the pups would be shifted to a separate nursing tank.
Charlotte Fans Eager To Hear The Pregnancy News
Global observers continue to be on the lookout for the asexual pregnancy date of the round stingray at Team ECCO’s Aquarium and Shark Lab located off Main Street in downtown Hendersonville. An hour after the doors opened on March 13, a line of people was waiting to visit Charlotte at the aquarium. It seemed like a constant stream of people were interested in seeing Charlotte.
Apart from the people who eagerly show up at the aquarium, a huge number of people are sharing their excitement through their social media accounts. A TikTok post asked the ECCO teams to continue with their daily updates. They addressed their concern, as they were left without updates for over three days. They demanded that they want to know the updates on Charlotte every day. Another person commented on TikTok, “Does anyone have insider information on Charlotte the stingray? Because her due date was like a week ago. Are we all just getting trolled? This is excellent clickbait because I’m here for it, but is it a stingray baby? Is it a shark baby? I need to know.”
Initial Claims Of A Hybrid Pregnancy
Before authorities confirmed that Charlotte conceived through parthenogenesis, questions like who got Charlotte pregnant and how she conceived without a male partner made it controversial. The white-spotted bamboo sharks kept along with Charlotte in her tank were said to be the potential fathers of her puppies.
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While much research was done on the potential of a shark and stingray pup and this unusual occurrence, experts quickly disproved the theories, providing a brief overview of marine biology to everybody. Lyons confirmed that there were no possibilities of a shark-stingray pregnancy. Furthermore, Lyons informed that this notion is unfeasible. Given their disparate proportions, sharks and stingrays would not anatomically match. Their DNA wouldn’t either.