You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

On a Shortwaveers, Marie Gidoi here, and today on the show, we're going to get a little

PG-13.

Yep, let's talk about sex, baby.

Condor sex, to be exact, or the lack thereof.

Scientists have discovered that some female California condors don't need males to reproduce

at all.

It's a phenomenon known as Parthenogenesis, or more colloquially as Virgin birth.

And it's been observed in other animals, too.

It seems to happen in a pretty wide range of animals, and by animals, I mean vertebrates,

so things with a spinal cord.

It happens in sharks, it happens in snakes, it's a pretty rare occurrence.

But it's not something that is, you know, you need to any one species.

It seems to be pretty widespread in the animal kingdom.

Today on the show, Parthenogenesis and California Condors, how it was found why it may happen

and the implications for the birds.

We're listening to shortwave, the Daily Science Podcast from NPR.

Sarah, we're talking about the sex lives of California condors because it's a subject

that's been closely scrutinized for decades.

Their mating lives are even documented in something called a stud book, which I'd

admit is a name I pretty much love.

Yeah, I love the name stud book, too.

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