A dragon can reproduce alone
Female Komodo dragons can produce viable offspring by parthenogenesis. It has been documented in zoos in females kept without males.
Established2 min read
Watts and colleagues genotyped hatchlings at London and Chester zoos. The offspring carried only maternal alleles. In the Komodo sex system (females are heterozygous ZW), this form of parthenogenesis yields ZZ sons. A lone female can found a population of males, who can later mate with her or her daughters.
Sexual reproduction is still the norm when males are present. The solo route is a real, genetic, backup — useful for an island lizard that sometimes arrives alone.
Caveats
- Parthenogenetic sons are not clones of the mother. The sex chromosomes make them male.
- Zoo cases are the proof. Frequency in the wild is less known.
Sources
- 1Watts P. C. et al.. Parthenogenesis in Komodo Dragons. Nature 444, 2006.