Charlotte, a stingray that lives at the Shark Lab aquarium in North Carolina, in the United States, is pregnant with four babies. However, according to the aquarium’s Instagram post on February 7th, there has been no male of the same species in its habitat for over eight years. There are only five small sharks together with the stingray.

Though it was speculated that Charlotte might be pregnant with hybrids (a cross between different species) of rays and sharks, it is more likely that parthenogenesis, when females reproduce alone (without a male) through their own genetic material, has occurred. The aquarium awaits the birth of Charlotte’s babies to determine what has occurred.

Sources: Folha de Pernambuco, G1, Instagram, and Mundo Educação.

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