Topic: In defense of Jurassic Park.

[Nemesis]

Link to full story

Scientists report of two cases where female Komodo dragons have produced offspring without male contact.

Tests revealed their eggs had developed without being fertilised by sperm - a process called parthenogenesis, the team wrote in the journal Nature.

Flora, who has never been kept with a male Komodo dragon, produced 11 eggs earlier this year. Three died off, providing the material needed for genetic tests.

Flora had never been kept with male Komodo dragons

These revealed the offspring were not exact genetic copies (clones) of their mother, but their genetic make-up was derived just from her.

The team concluded they were a result of asexual reproduction, and are waiting for the remaining eight eggs to hatch.

Richard Gibson, an author on the paper and a curator at the Zoological Society of London, said: "Parthenogenesis has been described before in about 70 species of vertebrates, but it has always been regarded to be a very unusual, perhaps abnormal phenomenon."

It has been shown in some snakes, fish, a monitor lizard and even a turkey, he said.

"But we have seen this in two separate, unrelated female Komodo dragons within a year, so this suggests maybe parthenogenesis is much more widespread and common than previously considered."

He added: "Because these animals were in captivity for years without male access, they reproduced parthenogenetically.

[Just plain old Punisher]

Several amphibian species can do this. Some carry genes for both male and female.