Friday, December 22, 2006

Komodo Dragon : Self Reproductive?

Zoologists said they were delighted at the birth of four rare Komodo dragons, but that the births have them a bit confused. Komodo dragons are a badly endangered species with only a few of them left in the world. The mother Komodo, Sungai, normally lives at the Thoiry wildlife park, west of Paris, but was recently lent to a London zoo to breed with a male Komodo. Imagine the surprise of the zoologists, then, when Sungai laid the fertilized eggs before even meeting her British lover - and the last time she is known to have had intercourse was two years ago. "Either female komodo dragons are spermthecal, meaning that they have the ability to store sperm or fertilized eggs for long periods, in this case for two years, or they are parthogenetic, meaning that they are self-reproductive - they produce clones of themselves," one zoologist said. Of course a third theory could be that the offspring are the result of a spontaneous conception in an effort to repopulate the species.
That's a question.

No comments: