To add to the seasonal mood, I thought I’d point out that there’s a virgin birth about to happen any day now. Maybe even Monday. Fingers crossed. And tail, if you have one. What am I talking about?
Here’s Flora, a proud-looking mum if I’ve ever seen one:
She’s a Komodo Dragon. She lives in Chester Zoo in England. In May, she laid several eggs. Eight of them now survive, and examination of three others (which had collasped) showed that they were fertilized, although Flora had not had any contact with a male. She is, it seems from further genetic analysis, the first (or one of the first) second known example of parthenogenesis in Komodo Dragons. (Update: the first was earlier this year – a dragon called Sungai, at London Zoo. See BBC article here.) Such self-fertilization is known in several other members of the reptile family, but this is among the first evidence for Komodos. It would be very useful to know more about the conditions affecting the process in general, but particulalry for Komodos, which are becoming extremely rare. There’s a rather good AP article by Maria Cheng here. ABC news quote from one of the Wise men in attendance (Kevin Buley):
We will be on the lookout for shepherds, wise men and an unusually bright star in the sky over Chester Zoo
-cvj
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I’ve just seen a BBC report that Flora is now the proud mother of five baby Komodo Dragons!
This is just about the greatest thing that I have ever seen in almost 59 years of life. And humans see themselves as the highest ranking animal species, let us all pay honors to Flora and Sungai who have proven themselves to be far more advanced a living creature than human ever were.
Elliot,
Men oughtn’t worry too much about being canceled out of the bio-equation. In fact, I recken sexual reproduction will–on most occasions– take precedence over asexual reproduction.;)
Best,
Cynthia
Cynthia,
Not to mention that males would become unnecessary 😉
Ellioy
>But there’s nothing bad about heavy quark effective theory…..
you’re clearly too scared to say otherWise…
It’s a good thing that humans aren’t capable of having virgin births. After all, sexual reproduction has generated enough overpopulation without having to add parthenogenesis to the mix.
Speaking of unusually bright stars…
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/061222_ns_nova_star.html
But there’s nothing bad about heavy quark effective theory…..
-cvj
>from one of the Wise men in attendance (Kevin Buley)
Was the capitalization intentional? I mean, is Kevin Buley one of Mark Wise’s men? If you say something bad about heavy quark effective theory, they will break your legs…