Komodo Dragon to Welcome Virgin Birth Just in Time for Christmas

[ZapperZ]

Just in time for Christmas, a lizard is expecting a virgin birth! Now THAT is what *I* would call an immaculate conception!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/20/uk.komodo.reut/index.html

Zz.

 

[berkeman]

Hmmm. So you're saying that males could become obsolete? Yikes.

 

[ZapperZ]

Hmmm. So you're saying that males could become obsolete? Yikes.

Oh, I wouldn't say that. I mean, men will still be needed to take out the trash.

<ZapperZ smacks himself silly>

Zz.

 

[arildno]

Well, I thought it was Mary who had an immaculate conception and thereby escaped inherited sin, making her fit to give birth to a god..

Or was that the other way around??
Or perhaps something to the left?

I'm confused..

 

[Gokul43201]

Hmmm. So you're saying that males could become obsolete?

Not as long as jars come with lids.

 

[berkeman]

Not as long as jars come with lids.

Oh yeah, huh! Thanks Gokul. I feel better now.

 

[Rach3]

I send gifts of small crickets and mealworms to the holy lizard (via UPS). They might be a bit late though, what with the holidays and all.

-Wise and kingy PF member

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I wonder if she was visited by three wise lizards bearing bugs.

 

[Aether]

Flora, a pregnant Komodo dragon living in a British zoo, is expecting eight babies in what scientists said on Wednesday could be a Christmas virgin birth...A female dragon could, for instance, swim to another island and establish a new colony on her own.

She's still a virgin...she went swimming (alone)...and got pregnant......

Scientists thought she had been able to store sperm from her earlier encounter with a male...

...lizard, yes...virgin, no...

The genetics of self-fertilization in lizards means that all her hatchlings would have to be male. These would grow up to mate with their own mother

 

[ZapperZ]

She's still a virgin...she went swimming (alone)...and got pregnant......lizard, yes...virgin, no...

They didn't say what KIND of an "encounter" she had. She could have easily killed the male lizard and got her ... er ... "supplies".

:)

This is getting really twisted.

Zz.

 

[radou]

Wow. So, I guess lizards have their own religion, too. There is a book to be written.

 

[ZapperZ]

There's a new "twist" to this story, or rather, a more technical detail on what is going on here.

http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061218/full/061218-7.html

If you have a subscription, or access to Nature, you can read the whole account. It's fascinating!

Zz.

 

[neutrino]

Reminds me of Godzilla (the '98 version).

 

[Reshma]

Reminds me of Godzilla (the '98 version).

You mean hermaphrodites?

 

[Gokul43201]

Reminds me of Godzilla (the '98 version).

Reminds me of Madonna (the '84 version).

 

[Gokul43201]

I send gifts of small crickets and mealworms to the holy lizard (via UPS). They might be a bit late though, what with the holidays and all.

-Wise and kingy PF member

Incidentally, the Magi weren't kings. Nor would they likely have been wise - they were, after all, priests!

And this talk of Magi and virgin births reminds me of another misconception, namely, that all there were no male homo sapiens between the time of Mitochondrial Eve and Y-Chromosomal Adam. While this naturally isn't true, I guess what you could say, is that all these other males were, ummm ... lesser men!

 

[ZapperZ]

Hey! A follow up to this amusing story!

That komodo dragon finally gave birth to 5 komodo dragons!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/24/komodo.births.ap/index.html

So far, the reports say that both mother/father and baby komodos are doing well.

Zz.

 

[arildno]

I hope she is hungry and eats the little monsters.

 

[neutrino]

Hey! A follow up to this amusing story!

That komodo dragon finally gave birth to 5 komodo dragons!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/24/komodo.births.ap/index.html

So far, the reports say that both mother/father and baby komodos are doing well.

Zz.

And we just had the brightest comet in decades (still have) visit us. Coincidence?