Updated: 10:48 a.m. ET Jan 25, 2007
CHESTER, England - Scientists unveiled five squirmy black and yellow Komodo dragons Wednesday that were the product of a virgin birth, predicting that the hatchlings offered hope for breeding the endangered species.
Flora, the Komodo dragon, has produced five hatchlings although a male has never been close to her, the proud staff at the Chester Zoo said.
“Flora is oblivious to the excitement she has caused, but we are delighted to say she is now a mum and dad,” said a delighted Kevin Buley, the zoo’s curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates.
― Maria :D (Maria D.), Friday, 26 January 2007 15:15 (eighteen years ago)
Parthenogenesis, in which an unfertilized egg develops to maturity, has been found in 70 species of vertebrates, including captive snakes and a monitor lizard species. In most of these reptile cases, this process is their only method of reproduction.
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/061220_virgin_births.html
In some whiptail lizards, males have become somewhat of an accessory, and all individuals are female. The type of asexual reproduction in whiptail lizards generates all-female offspring.
The Komodo dragon, turns out, can do both: they can reproduce sexually or asexually depending on their environmental conditions. At most zoos, females live alone and are kept separate from other dragons.
― Maria :D (Maria D.), Friday, 26 January 2007 15:17 (eighteen years ago)
― Maria :D (Maria D.), Friday, 26 January 2007 15:18 (eighteen years ago)
― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Friday, 26 January 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)
― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Friday, 26 January 2007 16:02 (eighteen years ago)
http://www.achewood.com/comic.php?date=01252007
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 26 January 2007 16:02 (eighteen years ago)
― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 26 January 2007 16:05 (eighteen years ago)
Jesus Lizard indeed!
― Maria :D (Maria D.), Friday, 26 January 2007 16:11 (eighteen years ago)
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 26 January 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrqw36xola1qzbkxko1_500.jpg
Krakatoa the komodo dragon celebrates his birthday with a party hat and a meat cake topped with dead mice.
― lex pretend, Monday, 20 August 2012 10:26 (thirteen years ago)
awwwwAH!
― 4'33" (dubstep remix) (Merdeyeux), Monday, 20 August 2012 14:53 (thirteen years ago)
Why do people have such a hard time spelling kimono dragon?
― Old Lunch, Monday, 20 August 2012 15:42 (thirteen years ago)
Please tell me that's a photoshopped hat and someone didn't actually restrain a live and extremely dangergous komodo dragon so they could put a Spongebob Squarepants hat on them.
― Matt DC, Monday, 20 August 2012 15:51 (thirteen years ago)
http://data.whicdn.com/images/13914825/FutE14_thumb.JPG
― Darren Robocopsky (Phil D.), Monday, 20 August 2012 15:52 (thirteen years ago)
http://wikitravel.org/upload/shared//c/c1/Komodo_Dragon_leaping.jpg
― the most promising US ilxor has thrown the TOWEL IN (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Saturday, 20 July 2013 23:51 (twelve years ago)