Virgin Birth

This Christmas brings word of a virgin birth, not to mention baby Jesus. At Chester Zoo in England a female Komodo Dragon has laid two fertile eggs, despite never having mated.

We will be on the look-out for shepherds, wise men, and an unusually bright star in the sky over Chester Zoo.

Kevin Buley, zoo curator

The phenomenon is called parthenogenesis, and is extremely rare in complex organisms – or so, at least, was thought – this being the second recorded occurrence with Komodo Dragons this year.

ARTICLE [“Virgin Birth Expected (…)”] (National Geographic) ARTICLE [parthenogenesis] (Wikipedia)