Dragon, I Name Thee...

There are some new arrivals at Chester Zoo and one of the five new Komodo Dragons is to be named by viewers of BBC's Newsround. These latest additions to Chester Zoo caused celebration amongst Zoo staff as their mother Flora is also their father.

In a unique twist, the baby Komodo Dragons are the result of a reproduction method previously unheard of in this, the largest, species of lizards. When Flora laid her eggs in May last year, keepers were stunned when examination showed them to be fertile, as Flora had never come in contact with a male Komodo Dragon.

After a frenzy of keen scientific interest, genetic finger printing revealed that Flora was both mother and father of the eggs. It was reproduction method known as parthenogenesis and Flora's was the first reported case in Komodo Dragons. Previously known to about 70 other species of vertebrates, parthenogenesis is an ancestral capability that could be used if a lizard were washed ashore alone without males to breed with.

These miracle babies are an important addition to the Komodo Dragon population as less than 4000 of these stunning animals remain in the wild. With 2 more eggs still in incubation, the births mark a happy ending to Flora's story.