The mystery of Charlotte, the pregnant stingray with Dr David Shiffman

World of Sharks

In February 2024, a round stingray from a small, rural aquarium in the middle of a shopping mall unexpectedly took the world by storm. She was pregnant, but how this had happened was a complete mystery - there were no male stingrays in the tank, nor had there ever been...

In this episode we are joined by scientist and science communicator Dr David Shiffman (@whysharksmatter) to examine Charlotte's case. We go deep into the various theories that could explain Charlotte's pregnancy to get to the bottom of what really happened. No, a shark did not get a ray pregnant, but what did happen is even more fascinating. It's a good excuse to take a deep dive into the more unusual methods of shark and ray reproduction, including the super cool zoological phenomenon that is parthenogenesis!

You can find out more about David here https://davidshiffmancv.com/, find his book here https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12267/why-sharks-matter and read his article on Charlotte for Southern Fried Science: https://www.southernfriedscience.com/no-a-shark-did-not-get-a-stingray-pregnant-but-what-really-happened-is-pretty-cool/

Shownotes: www.saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/podcast