http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/20/uk.komodo.reut/index.html

 

I'm sure all of you have heard of this sort of thing - parthenogenesis. But apparently they just recently discovered that Komodo dragons can do this, as well as other lizards.

 

So, maybe Godzilla's asexual reproduction wasn't so far fetched after all??

Actually, we've known that other reptiles use parthenogenesis for a long while. Specifically, there are several species of whiptail lizards in the western US that reproduce solely by parthenogenesis (100% female species), and one species of snake that does so (a tiny, blind burrowing snake).

 

What's interesting is that we've never recorded it in any monitor lizard before, and because of their mode of sex determination, it yields a males rather than females.

 

Mokele