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Virgin dragon to give birth this Christmas
mongabay.com
December 20, 2006





A virgin Komodo dragon will give birth to offspring this Christmas (or thereabouts) at the Chester Zoo in Britain according to researchers.

Komodo dragon in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Butler

Flora, a female Komodo dragon, will reproduce asexually in a process called parthenogenesis, where eggs become embryos without male fertilization. The process is known to occur in about 70 reptile species but hadn't been observed in Komodo dragons -- the world's largest lizard species -- until this year. Another dragon, Sungai, had virginal conception earlier this year. Both cases are described in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

The ability to conceive without a mate has important conservation implications for a species that is today limited to a few remote islands in Indonesia. Scientists say only about 4,000 dragons remain in the wild, putting the species at risk in a region where natural disasters like tsunami or a disease outbreak could easily cause extinction.

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