The Cellar - December 26th, 2015: Miracle Virgin Birth

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December 26th, 2015: Miracle Virgin Birth

In England, a virgin birth of twin lambs.

.......... http://cellar.org/2015/virgin.jpg

Quote:

A farm in Nottinghamshire claims to be celebrating a 'virgin birth' this Christmas, after a ewe gave birth to surprise twins.
Staff at White Post Farm in Farnsfield say the ewe in question was not thought to have mated with a ram and had tested
negative on pregnancy scans.
Rams used in breeding are fitted with a mechanism to dispense coloured dye onto any ewe they 'serve', or mate with.
The ewe in question had no dye on her at all, leading the farm to believe that she couldn't be pregnant.
So when she gave birth to twin lambs, there was shock all round. The farm are hailing it a 'Christmas miracle'.
The pair, who are said to be unusually coloured, are yet to be named.

The farmer's wife said she just can't understand how the unusually colored lambs could have happened, especially since
her husband spends quite a few evenings in the sheep barn. http://cellar.org/2014/whistling.gif

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce (Post 949578)

The farmer's wife said she just can't understand how the unusually colored lambs could have happened, especially since
her husband spends quite a few evenings in the sheep baa-aa-arn.

Fixed it.;)

I wonder if they know they can probably have the lambs DNA tested...I'd be very interested to know if they tested as 'clones' of their mother. I've been studying taxonomy, zoology, and ecology on my own since I could read, and while I have heard of a verified, DNA-tested foal out of a female mule (turned out to be 3/4ths donkey, which made sense since it was born in an area where horses are much less common than donkeys and mules) I have yet to see published evidence of parthogenesis in mammals.

To quote the Wikipedia article, parthogenesis "is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization." It IS known in the wild, but mostly from simpler life forms such as several members of the whiptail lizard family.

Under the heading of "THIS is where you find a plot hole/botched important detail in THIS movie?", when Matthew Broderick's character described the 1998 American Godzilla (a/k/a GINO--Godzilla In Name Only and also The Jay Leno Lizard) as reproducing 'asexually', he should have said 'parthogenetically'.

I'll keep an eye out for further news of the Christmas conundrum lambs!

I think it's more likely the contraption used on the rams to mark the ewes they mounted, failed. ;)