Who’s the daddy? That’s the question being asked by zoologists stumped by the birth of four rare Komodo dragons at London Zoo – with no obvious male contender on the scene.
The mother, Sungai, was brought from Paris to London to meet a new British lover to bolster the endangered species. But she gave birth before she was even introduced to him, and the last time she is known to have had sex was two years previously.
It could be that this fearsome species is one that is either able to sore up sperm for long periods of time to use it later. Or it could be that the lizards are able to clone themselves - reproducing without having sex, by a process called parthenogenesis.
Although the Komodo dragon may not be a looker (in the conventional sense) and has some pretty unappealing features – devouring large mammals like goats and deer, and even eating young Komodo dragons with its bacteria-teeming teeth – cloning yourself is pretty drastic.
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