This is the first time I’ve met a Komodo baby dragon, they are very interesting indeed. Apparently it can be a scary start to life... Adult dragons will eat almost anything, including their own young! Once they hatch, the baby lizards travel away from the nest and climb up into the trees, where they will spend their first few years avoiding hungry adult dragons. I read that they have some amazing breeding strategies. Not only do adult dragons wrestle by standing up on their hind legs to fight over females, but the females also spend a lot of time fighting off the advances of the males! But it's not all about the boys winning over the girls. In the world of Komodo dragons, the females can do it by themselves too. In 2005, a female Komodo dragon at the London Zoo laid a clutch of eggs, even though she had not had contact with any males for over two years. The eggs hatched and tests showed that these young were produced without fertilisation by a male - she had simply produced them by herself!
This process is called parthenogenesis, from the Greek words for virgin birth, and the London zoo were the first to prove such a thing existed in Komodo dragons.
They probably had to develop the skill since they were so in to fighting with each other. The females probably killed off too many males to depend on them for breeding.
A good capture of the reptile. Huge claws and rough textured skin.
January 18th, 2023
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A good capture of the reptile. Huge claws and rough textured skin.