Posted by Happy Valentine (136..12.9) on February 14, 2024 at 07:05:30:
Round Stingray Surprise Pregnancy
Kinsley Boyette, assistant director of the Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO, poses in this undated photo next to Charlotte, a round stingray, in Hendersonville, N.C. The aquarium said Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, that Charlotte is pregnant, even though she's lived at the aquarium for years without a male companion of her species. (Aquarium and Shark Lab by Team ECCO via AP)ASSOCIATED PRESSMore
Charlotte, a rust-colored stingray the size of a serving platter, has spent much of her life gliding around the confines of a storefront aquarium in North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.
She's 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) from her natural habitat under the waves off southern California. And she hasn't shared a tank of water with a male of her species in at least eight years.
And yet nature has found a way, the aquarium's owner said: The stingray is pregnant with as many as four pups and could give birth in the next two weeks.
"Here’s our girl saying, ’Hey, Happy Valentine’s Day! Let's have some pups!”