Immaculate conception
There's news today that at Chester zoo, Flora the Komodo dragon has laid 11 eggs, in spite of having no mate. The eggs have been tested at Liverpool University where scientists discovered that the genetic make-up of the embryos exactly matches the mother ie they were created by parthenogenesis. It was known that other species of lizards could procreate in this manner but this is the first example of parthenogenesis by a Komodo dragon. They say that when they hatch, all the babies will be male and that they will at some later stage impregnate their mother. This seems strange to my mind. Why should they all be male, particularly considering that only the females are able to perform parthenogenesis? If the mother dies suddenly, what hope is there for the 11 to continue the species? It's lucky that there are other zoos/the wild where they can be taken in an emergency...