Baby Komodo dragons born parthenogenetically at Chattanooga Zoo

[Tanuki]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/03/09/us/komodo-dragons-parthenogenesis-scn-trnd/index.html

"Charlie, a female Komodo dragon at the Chattanooga Zoo in Tennessee, has proved to be the ultimate independent lady after successfully giving birth to three hatchlings without a male partner.

Even though Charlie and a potential mate named Kadal were placed together in hopes of breeding, the first-time mother produced the three brothers, named Onyx, Jasper and Flint, on her own through a phenomenon called parthenogenesis. It's extremely rare among vertebrates: Only 70 backboned species can do it, which is about 0.1% of all vertebrates, according to Scientific American.

The hatchlings were born last August, but since zoo staff were never able to confirm any successful breeding between Charlie and Kadal, they ordered a DNA test.
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Komodo dragons have evolved to reproduce both sexually and parthenogenetically because they mainly live isolated in the wild and become violent when approached, according to the zoo.

Parthenogenesis happens when another egg, rather than sperm, fertilizes an egg, according to Scientific American. The biological process of making an egg cell, called oogenesis, typically produces a polar body, which contains a duplicate copy of egg DNA."...(more)

[Maraya1969]

1. Amazing! Thank you for sharing this.

[Sinistrous]

2. No

why!

[barbtries]

3. but how could they be boys

without male DNA?

it's in the story:

Female Komodo dragons carry WZ sex chromosomes, while males carry the ZZ type. When parthenogenesis occurs, the mother can only create WW or ZZ eggs and since WW eggs aren't viable, only ZZ eggs are left to produce all male hatchlings, the zoo said.

[FM123]

4. Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this article.