Observe the extremely rare 'reverse evolution' lizard species in the natural world for the first time

Science has been the first to observe the case of reverse evolution in the natural world and it happened to a lizard named Zootoca vivipara.

Lizard laying babies or laying eggs? The answer is definitely to spawn! But contrary to the thought of all of us, there are some lizards in the world that give birth to children. One of them is Zootoca vivipara - meaning "child" in Latin.

In fact, science always considers childbirth a more advanced form of spawning. Zootoca vivipara is therefore always more appreciated than regular lizards.

The egg-laying lizard is a group of lizards that have been laying eggs for a long time.

However, it seems that the speciality of this lizard does not stop there. Recently, Zootoca vivipara has done something that seems impossible: somehow, they have returned to egg laying. This can be considered a typical example of "reverse evolution" that science rarely observes.

Specifically, this phenomenon occurs in two populations of Zootoca vivipara lizards , one at the French and Spanish borders, and the other in the Alps. Experts initially said they represented the egg-laying ancestors of this strange lizard species.

The reverse evolutionary lizard, from laying off to laying eggs.

To verify, the researchers performed genetic tests on more than 70 individual lizard species across Europe, to draw their evolutionary map. And the results are more complex than what science still thinks.

Accordingly, egg-laying lizards in the Alps are a group of lizards that have laid eggs for a long time. But with the group of lizards in Spain, the evidence suggests that they have just evolved to regain the ability to lay eggs. In other words, they have evolved backwards.

This is a very interesting finding. In 1893, paleontologist Louis Dollo came up with the theory that evolution was irreversible, and it is still accepted today. That is, if a species has abandoned a trait or behavior (such as spawning), it will not be able to regain that ability, even if they are living in the same environment as before evolution.

But clearly with this discovery, the theory is no longer accurate. In fact, the Zootoca vivipara lizard evolved to give birth at a relatively close time - only about . 2 million years ago. This proves that the group of lizards evolved backwards in Spain even more. Experts say they may have stored this ability in DNA, and only now revealed it.

Zootoca vivipara lizards evolved to give birth at relatively close times - only about . 2 million years ago.

This is not the first time that reptiles know how to reverse. For example, snake genus Erycinae, most species are of the type (eggs hatched in the abdomen, ie they give birth to babies). However, at least 3 species of them lay eggs, and this ability appeared about 60 million years ago.

The thing is, the case evolved back in time almost like Zootoca vivipara this is the first time.