Charlotte the pregnant stingray develops rare reproductive disease, testing shows

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- A stingray in western North Carolina who was going through mysterious pregnancy now has a rare reproductive disease, according to new testing. Charlotte the stingray got pregnant under mysterious circumstances months ago and still has not given birth.

She lives at the Aquarium and Shark Lab in Hendersonville.

In a Facebook post Team ECCO, which cares for Charlotte, said the stingray now has "a rare reproductive disease that has negatively impacted her reproductive system."

There was no mention of the pregnancy in the post.

Back in February, aquarium workers determined that Charlotte was pregnant, but said they were shocked because she had never been in contact with a male stingray.

She became a national sensation when scientists explained there were only two ways they could think of that she got pregnant. Both of which were extremely rare.

The first was a true virgin birth known as parthenogenesis. That's when the eggs develop on their own without fertilization and create a clone of their mother.

The second was that Charlotte mated with male sharks that were in her tank. It's unclear whether that's even possible. The evidence that made scientists consider that option was bite marks on Charlotte's body -- which is expected behavior for mating sharks.

Either way, that was February, and the scientists thought Charlotte was weeks away from giving birth. Months later it still hasn't happened.