The world is big, there are no wonders. In the spring of 2021, a strange thing happened in an zoological and botanical garden in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, where a female ape was found to be pregnant and had a child after living alone for a long time.
The birth of "baby apes"
The female ape is called MOMO, which is also a special gibbon in the zoo, because MOMO has always been living alone. This also allows the staff inside to have more care and affection for it. However, when the staff recently fed it as usual, they found a small "gibbon", which really frightened the staff.
In a hidden corner of MOMO's residence, the staff found a small animal, and on closer inspection, it was a "gibbon". Apparently, MOMO was reluctant to let the staff discover its presence and immediately panicked and hugged the little ape.
The staff also immediately told the director of the park about this matter, and the director of the park also showed a very surprised expression after knowing it, he said that "although there are male apes around the female ape, they are all closed management, and it is impossible to complete mating." Everyone was amazed at the arrival of the baby ape.
"Baby Ape" 'Journey to Find a Father'
Gibbons are animals that have been passed down from generation to generation through normal mating, and cannot complete reproduction without male and female mating.
Everyone began to discuss this matter, thinking that it was possible that the surrounding male apes had mated with MOMO and then gave birth to small gibbons. The staff revealed: "There are five male apes around MOMO, there are 3 on the left, 1 on the right, and 1 on the opposite side, but all the compartments are separated by a strong iron net, and the gap in the iron net is very small, and it is impossible for the male ape's genitals to pass."
In this regard, the staff also measured the width of the iron mesh, and the genitals of normal male apes could not pass through, so the mating of male apes and MOMos was excluded.
Just when the staff was confused, one day when the staff cleaned momo's solitary room as usual, they suddenly found a hole in MOMO's solitary room, which was larger than the iron mesh, just enough for the genitals of the male male ape to pass through. The hole is enough for the male ape to mate, and then things are answered.
This hole is located in a corner of the MOMO cage and cannot be found without looking closely. Thus, this miracle also has an answer.
After discovering the hole, the staff sealed it to avoid similar things from happening in the future. After this story was published on the Internet, some netizens believed that this blocked the nature of animals, and that reproduction was an instinct of all animals, including humans, and was in line with the laws of nature, so it was not necessary to stifle the instinct.
The staff explained: "Mainly for the regular and healthy reproduction of animals, our park has regulations, for the number of animals to reproduce and so on must have certain regulations, otherwise it will cause some problems." ”
Of course, this "accident" even has netizens suspecting the breeder, almost carrying a black pot.
After knowing the truth, the staff also provided a good environment and food for the "baby ape", carried out special care, and with the baby, MOMO also put his mind on the baby ape every day and took on the responsibility of the mother.
Are there any creatures in the world that can conceive on their own?
Although this incident proved to be a "oolong", there are really many creatures in the world that can get pregnant without mating. How do they give birth to a new life?
In fact, there are many self-reproducing creatures. Hammerhead sharks, Komodo dragons, Moor salamanders and other species of reptiles, fish and insects can reproduce without mating.
But without fertilization, how exactly did they get pregnant?
Here we will mention "self-fertilization". In simple terms, it refers to fertilization carried out by the combination of germ cells of the same individual.
In general, most organisms need two germ cells for fertilization, but autoseconded animals do not, they only need their own germ cells to combine to reproduce.
In addition to females breeding alone, there are also males in the animal kingdom who breed alone, such as the hippocampus that protects babies in their own nursery bags from an early age; Carrying little babies "around the world" possum bugs and possum toads; The red fox who spoils his wife and protects his cubs, the full-time father marmoset and so on.
The amazing way of fertility in the animal kingdom
The most common methods of animal reproduction are viviparous and oviparous, of course, there are some special existences.
"Incubate" yellow-headed jawfish in the mouth
A species of fish, the yellow-headed jaw, hatches by holding an egg in its mouth and spitting it out after a while, and after hatching, the small fish swim out of the mouth of the fish father. Usually the incubation process takes five to seven days. After hatching, the small fish swim out of the father's mouth. After the fish hatches, it usually takes a long time for the fish's father to recover.
"Hermaphrodite" planarians
Some hermaphrodites reproduce in a very special way. During reproduction, planarians will stab their reproductive organs into the bodies of their kind. What is even more shocking is that in some special cases, they will stab themselves in the head and drain the liquid of love into their own head. After the liquid of love enters their head, they will move the middle of the limb membrane and complete reproduction.
The "queen rat" competes for dominance over the naked mole rat
Naked mole rats also live and reproduce differently from other mammals. They live in nests like ants. Only one larger, relatively good-skinned mole in this colony is responsible for reproduction, and they will continue to breed until death. The queen secretes a special substance in the urine, which causes other female rats to lose their fertility. This method helps to consolidate the post-rat position. Therefore, naked mole rats only have the right to breed after competing for rats.
"Sacrifice for love" octopus
Octopus Female octopuses are usually not picky about male octopuses. To protect these cubs, they will personally protect the cubs for three weeks without eating or drinking during the incubation, after which the eggs will begin to hatch and float into the water. Baby octopus hatches in the egg and then swims out of the scene, while octopus mothers quickly run out of energy and end their lives.
"Multi-sex mating" tetramembranous worms
Tetramembranous worms are very simple organisms that use parthenogenesis to breed in freshwater environments. But parthenogenesis does not produce genetic variations that can help organisms adapt to changing environments. According to studies, tetramembranes have at least seven sexes! Imaginative scientists have turned these sexes into what is called type I to VII. Tetramembrane type I cannot mate with other type I tetramembranes, but don't worry. All tetramembranes can be mated by choosing any of the remaining six sexes. The new infant tetracychaesis acquired all the genetic information and had the potential to become either sex. In random cases, their DNA was trimmed to a single sex.
"Parasitic breeding" barnacles
Once the barnacles find a flock of crabs, they will immediately adhere to the crabs, stretch out syringe-like tentacles, and inject their own cells into the crabs. Barnacles collect in the crab's sinus tract and begin to take root, grow, and spread around, and finally, they protrude from the female crab's ovaries and lay eggs in the crab's tiny belly. If barnacles happen to inhabit the belly of a bear crab, they will extend the abdomen of the male crab to about the size of the female crab. People still don't know why barnacles behave this way. How exactly does barnacles make crabs mistake their eggs for their own? This is also an unsolved mystery.
"Broken Arm Reborn" starfish
The number of such starfish has not diminished at all, because of their terrifying regenerative abilities. Not only can they regenerate severed limbs, under the right conditions, they can even regenerate a completely new individual! Because their cells are highly topotent, like the embryonic cells at the beginning of our human life, this means they have the ability to regenerate new individuals.
The world is wonderful, reproduction as a major instinct of living things, different creatures have different ways of reproduction, bringing us different cognition, nature is really amazing.