Facts About Animals
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Ancient female fairy shrimp may have gotten along just fine without males. Researchers studying Cretaceous-period freshwater fossils in the Koonwarra fossil bed in southern Australia have described a new species of now-extinct freshwater shrimp (Koonwarrella peterorum) whose females likely reproduced without sex — a phenomenon known as parthenogenesis, which is a type of asexual reproduction.
Parthenogenesis is the spontaneous development of an embryo from an unfertilized egg. It’s known to occur in both plants and animals, although it is thought to be extremely rare. Some species, such as whiptail lizards, reproduce exclusively through parthenogenesis, but some sexually reproducing species have been known to reproduce parthenogenetically, as in the case of two fatherless California condors reported in the Journal of Heredity in 2021.
“As far as we can tell, [parthenogenesis] is unknown in the fossil record of fairy shrimp,” study co-researcher Thomas Hegna, an assistant professor of paleontology at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia, told Live Science. Although parthenogenesis has been spotted in modern brine shrimp, this is the first time it has been recognized in freshwater varieties.
18% of households in the UK own a cat, but there’s still so much that we don’t know about them. From the unusual way they walk, to how big the largest cat is, we bet you haven’t heard some of these fun facts!
Cats are an enigma that have captured the hearts of people for thousands of years. Their mysterious personalities and adorable looks have made them an incredibly popular pet, and according to a survey 18% of households in the UK alone are ruled by a cat. With so many cats around us, surely that would mean that everyone knows everything possible about them, right? Wrong! There are so many interesting facts about cats that you probably haven’t heard of, from the world’s largest cat, to the surprising way they walk.
Keep reading to find out more. We bet you haven’t heard some of these cat facts!
The oldest known pet cat existed 9,500 years ago
This interesting fact about cats is guaranteed to wow at your next dinner party. Did you know that originally it was thought that Egyptians domesticated the cat? But in 2004, French archaeologists discovered a 9,500 year old cat grave in Cyprus. This makes this the oldest known pet cat and it predates Egyptian art about cats by over 4,000 years!