Sadly Smalltooth Sawfish are on the verge of extinction. However, scientists have discovered that some female sawfish are having ‘virgin’ births. The recent Study was published in Current Biology, initially the study was taking DNA of Florida Estuaries sawfish to see if they reproduced with relatives because of the limited the population. The results were very surprising and revealed that some of the females had reproduced without males. The process is called facultative parthenogenesis, a process thought to be very rare in vertebrates and of which many of the offspring conceived do not survive. However, the study revealed that the offspring, who were caught, tagged and released, were in great health. It’s very promising research that shows that animals who are endangered will do amazing things to survive. MORE