Weird World: giant lizard makes itself pregnant

A female dragon has fertilised her own eggs in an immaculate conception. Flora the Komodo dragon's eggs are due to hatch over Christmas - yet she is still a virgin. Asexual reproduction - fertilisation without a male - is known to happen in other lizard species. But this is the first time it has been confirmed that the Komody dragon is capable of self-fertilisation, reports science journal Nature,

Flora laid 11 eggs in May this year, three of which collapsed. These three eggs were opened and were found to contain embryos, showing they had been fertilised. Flora had never mated with a male dragon or even mixed with one. DNA tests have now proven that Flora was both the "mother" and "father" of the fertile eggs.

"Although other lizard species are known to be able to self-fertilise, this is the first time this has ever been reported in Komodo dragons," says one of the co-authors of the paper, Kevin Buley. "Essentially, what we have here is an immaculate conception, and because the eggs were laid back in May, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the incubating eggs could hatch around Christmas time. We will be on the lookout for shepherds, wise men and an unusually bright star in the sky over Chester Zoo."