Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Scary Self Cloning...!

Of all the strange things that some animals can do, this has to be the strangest !

For some reason, it bothers me a lot that these guys can clone themselves. Bad enough to have one around, but to find out that it has created six or eight more without help. It wouldn't take long until the dragons outnumbered regular folks. I think we may be in trouble, ya hear?

. Komodo Dragons



In 2006, something astonishing happened: A monitor lizard (aka a Komodo dragon) gave birth to four pups at London Zoo. Even more extraordinary is that another dragon was expecting to give birth to eight additional babies that year.

Both mothers were held in captivity, and both mothers reproduced asexually. Until this point, Komodo dragons had never been known to reproduce without male participation.

After conducting tests on the young males, it was confirmed that the babies were not an exact genetic match with the mother. Instead, the mother’s DNA was doubled to create the young and showed no presence of male DNA.

Herpetologist Richard Gibson speculated that the lizards developed the ability to survive in isolated situations.
Imagine you’re a Komodo dragon and you’re living in an archipelago of tiny islands, and a female gets caught in a storm and swept out to sea, ending up on an island with no other dragons. After two or three years of waiting with no one to breed with, she spontaneously reproduces parthenogenetically.

Gibson added that the ability would eventually cause genetic problems similar to extreme inbreeding, explaining why dragons always treat virgin births as a last resort.


Thank goodness the human animal hasn't learned this trick as of yet. Can you imagine the confusion? Thanks to Listverse for this information!

Coffee out on the slightly chilly patio this morning.

8 comments:

Judy said...

What's that song about being your own grandpa?

Made a Devil's Food cake, if any one's interested, to go with our coffee.

HermitJim said...

Hey Judy...
That cake sure sounds good to me! Think I'll have some!
Thanks for stopping by today!

linda m said...

Oh my, let's hope people never learn how to do this sort of thing. It's bad enough the "Robots" are taking over. Judy I would love a piece of cake. Thank you for making it.

Momlady said...

I've seen them up close and personal on Komodo Island. They're definitely not cute! I don't think anyone living in a cold climate needs to worry, the island is extremely hot. There really aren't that many left. Cake? Yum. Thanks, Judy.

Chickenmom said...

Nature allows some strange things to happen sometimes! Save a piece of that cake for me!

JO said...

These dragons are nothing nice. They have a poisonous bit. If they can reproduce like that I wonder why they are dying off. I bet they are being killed off.

Patio time is good.

Dizzy-Dick said...

It is a good thing that they can do that, since they are so ugly, it may be hard for them to attract a mate (grin).

HermitJim said...

Hey Linda...
I'm with you hoping the people don't learn it.
Thanks for coming over today!


Hey Momlady...
I don't even want to see one up close.
Thanks for the visit today!


Hey Phyllis...
Nature can be strange at times, for sure!
Thanks for stropping by!


Hey Jo...
Definitely not nice or good looking! Plenty of ugly though!
Thanks for dropping by today!


Hey Dizzy...
I have to agree with you on that!
Thanks for the visit today!