Parthenogenesis

The other day I was reading about this female hammerhead shark that
gave birth a few years ago, while in captivity and with no apparent
male assistance. Initially there were various theories as to how the
baby shark came to exist, including that the mother had had sex while
in the wild until three years previously and she'd stored the sperm,
but now scientists have found that its DNA only matched that of one of the
females kept in the tank, and that no male DNA was anywhere to be
found. Sadly, the pup was killed almost straight away by a stingray,
before keepers could remove it from the tank.

Now I wonder if my GP would offer this hypothesis when I ring him
about my period being two weeks late (after all, he did suggest "old
age" as the cause of my itchy skin a couple of years ago),
considering that there's no males to be found around my parts either
- although not 'cos of captivity, rather a personal choice. Well, he
might try... and considering that my usual PMT starts about a week
before I'm due, and that now I've had it for a total of three weeks,
he might find that "Jaws" aren't the only ones that can rip your
limbs off.