The Mystery of the Immaculately Conceived Baby Anteater

[azurnoir]

Staffers at a zoological conservation center in Greenwich, Conn., are very confused — as are the rest of us — because their female giant anteater, Armani, has managed to conceive a baby, apparently without the presence of a male anteater.

It all started in August, writes Lisa Chamoff for Greenwich Time. Armani, an anteater at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center, had given birth to anteater baby girl Alice. Alice's father, Alf, was kept away from Armani and Alice because male anteaters have a bad history of committing infanticide. And then one April morning, a zoo staffer entered Armani's abode and found ... another baby. Chamoff explains, "The sudden appearance of little Archie was a surprise, to say the least. The gestation period for anteaters is six months. Armani and Alf had not been back together long enough to do what they needed to do to put the cycle of life into gear a second time."

Hypotheses began to fly about the conservation center and beyond. Some people thought it was "immaculate anteater conception" (though probably no one really thought that). Or that "Alf had somehow gotten the keys to Armani's pen one night in October." Another explanation has been posited by the founder and director of the center, Marcella Leone, who believes that Archie "might have been a case of delayed implantation, when fertilized eggs remain dormant in the uterus for a period of time." Anteater-similar mammals like sloths and armadillos have demonstrated delayed implantation — and yet, still, there is mystery: "some experts say they've never seen a second embryo implant after a mammal has just given birth," and that such a thing would be unlikely in giant anteaters.

http://news.yahoo.com/mystery-immaculately-conceived-baby-anteater-140155441.html

[Warpy]

1. More likely, she and Alf had a quckie

while the zookeeper was concentrating on his cell phone one day or otherwise paying lax attention.

[defacto7]

2. Great, now we have another religion.

[Live and Learn]

3. Seems like a simple DNA test would at least resolve

if Alf is the father.

[TxDemChem]

5. I agree. I don't know what anteater chromosomes are like,

But as mammals, they may have an equivalent to our Y chromosome. For humans at least, the Y chromosome has to be donated by the male. Interesting case. I think I'll delve in anteater biology today.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Great picture in that link.

[Judi Lynn]

6. !st time I saw a baby anteater image. Had to find another one:

[center] [/center]
Amazing animals.