What is Christmas for you? A day of endless parties? mountains of food? Santa Claus? snow? gift-giving? Ah, the holidays have taken on several meanings. However, strip it all of the capitalist touch, and you’re left with what it actually is: a remembrance of Mary’s virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Whether it’s true or not is for others to debate about, but do you know that virgin births do, in fact, occur in nature? Yes, dear readers. Sometimes men can be left out of the equation.

The scientific term is parthenogenesis. Wikipedia describes it as “an asexual form of reproduction found in females where growth and development of an embryo or seed occurs without fertilization by males.” Parthenogenesis occurs naturally in some species, including most lower plants, invertebrates (some bees, scorpion and wasps), and vertebrates (some reptiles, fish, birds and sharks). This type of reproduction has also been induced artificially in other species, such as in mice and monkeys.

For a long time, asexual reproduction like parthenogenesis was the only form of reproduction on Earth. When sexual reproduction came about through mutation, it paved a way for genetic diversity, in turn ensuring better survival of the species. Many species completely switched to sexual reproduction, some retained asexual reproduction, and others enabled both. Still, others that once reproduced sexually reverted back to asexual methods.

Take for example, certain species of sharks. In 2001 a bonnethead, a type of small hammerhead shark, gave birth at Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska, in a tank containing three female hammerheads, but no males. The investigation of the birth concluded after DNA testing that the reproduction was parthenogenic. The testing showed the female baby shark’s DNA matched only one female who lived in the tank, and that no male DNA was present. The baby shark was not a twin or clone of her mother, but rather, contained only half of her mother’s DNA. Parthenogenesis evolved likely as a mechanism to ensure the survival of the population. After all, sharks are often solitary for long stretches, and the sea is a big place.

Parthenogenesis in Mammals

There are no known cases of mammalian parthenogenesis in the wild. In labs, however, scientists have had some success. In April 2004, scientists at Tokyo University of Agriculture used parthenogenesis successfully to create a fatherless mouse. But the technology used for parthenogenesis in mice and monkeys often results in abnormal development. As a consequence, research on human parthenogenesis is focused on the production of embryonic stem cells for use in medical treatment, not as a reproductive strategy.

On August 2, 2007, it was revealed that South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk produced the first human embryos through parthenogenesis. Initially, Hwang claimed he and his team had extracted stem cells from cloned human embryos, a result which was later found to be fabricated. Further examination of the chromosomes of these cells show the same indicators of parthenogenesis in those extracted stem cells, as are found in the mice created by Tokyo scientists in 2004. Although Hwang deceived the world about being the first to create artificially cloned human embryos, he did contribute a major breakthrough to stem cell research by creating human embryos using parthenogenesis. The process may offer a way for creating stem cells that are genetically matched to a particular woman for the treatment of degenerative diseases.

Will parthenogenesis ever be used for the benefit of couples who wish to have a baby? Not in the near future, perhaps, as conservatives are likely to cry foul. However, the technology is there, and in the future, who knows? It may just be the solution for lesbian couples who wish to conceive a baby that is theirs alone, without the need for a male sperm donor.