The female Komodo dragon breeds itself without a male

Charlie, a female Komodo dragon at the zoo of Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, spawned 3 eggs and hatched into offspring without mating with any males.

According to CNN, although Charlie was paired up with a male named Kadal in the hope that they would mate and reproduce sexually, but ultimately do not understand why Charlie gave birth to three children - Onyx. , Jasper and Flint - through a monogamous process, that is, without the involvement of a male.

Komodo dragon - the largest reptile in the world - is capable of giving birth without the need for fertilization from males. Scientists have recorded many similar cases, and this single reproduction occurs only in about 70 species of vertebrates, according to Scientific American magazine.

Charlie produced three eggs in August 2019, but zoo officials could not confirm whether Charlie was having sex with Kadal, so they did a DNA test to see who was the father of the baby dragon.

Two of the three young Komodo dragons were born single from their mother Charlie.(Photo: Chattanooga Zoo).

The results showed that three young Komodo dragons had genomes taken from Charlie, and they were the result of a single breeding process.

"Kadal, you're not the father of baby dragons! ", Zoo Chattanooga said in a statement on Facebook.

Komodo dragons have evolved to reproduce both by fertilization between males and females, as well as unilateral reproduction. The reason is thought to be because they live quite isolated in the wild, and often become aggressive when other children come to know them, according to zoo experts.

According to Scientific American magazine, unisexual reproduction occurs when an egg in a female fertilizes with another egg, instead of a male's sperm. This process is called ovulation, which leads to the formation of a polar form with an egg's DNA copy.

"Usually this polar body shrinks and disappears. But in the case of the Komodo dragon, the polar bodies act like a sperm and turn the egg into embryos," the Scientific American study said.

The female Komodo dragon only carries the sex chromosome WZ, while the male Komodo dragon carries the sex chromosome ZZ. When monogamous reproduction occurs, the mother can only produce WW or ZZ chromosomes, but because WW eggs cannot exist, all offspring born in this process carry chromosomes. ZZ - that is all males.

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