The Reptile Village Zoo in Gowran, Kilkenny, has reported the world’s first birth to a virgin lizard previously thought incapable of reproduction without a mate.
While other species of lizard are known to give birth by parthenogenesis – an asexual form of reproduction – James Hennessy, curator of Reptile Village Zoo in Gowran, said one of his two female Nile Monitor lizards 10 year old ‘Nice’ ( the other is named ‘Nasty’ ) has reproduced, despite never having been in contact with a male.
“I decided that when ‘Nice’ laid eggs I would put them in an incubator and see what the outcome would be. I was really shocked when we discovered that two of the eggs were fertilised. Unfortunately having opened one of the eggs to find out more the baby lizard died and we carefully monitored the other egg wating for it to hatch, but sadly the second lizard was too weak to hatch and died also”.
This phenomena has never happened anywhere else, Mr Hennessy said that the case might be explained by nature with the highly-evolved Nile Monitor.
“My theory behind it would be that I’ve a female here who has never seen another male in her life. She is more isolated and has only been in contact with one other Nile Monitor, our other female lizard, and that was only once. As far as she is concerned, she’s in a habitat where it looks to her like there are no males around. She needs to keep her species going, so she needs to repopulate.
“This has never been known to occur in this species before,” he said. “There have been two cases of parthenogenesis recorded in Komodo Dragons – a different species of Monitor lizard found only in Indonesia – but never in Nile Monitor species from Africa, so this is a first in the world”.
The lizard is being preserved at the Gowran zoo and is on show for visitors to see for themselves. Samples and tissue have been sent to various research institutions to help explain this miracle. The world- recognised licensed zoo specialises in conserving and preventing extinction in species. The Reptile Village opened in 2006 to the public but Hennessey has worked with reptiles for years.
“I had over 60 reptiles in my home for years including Nice and Nasty who I’ve looked after for 10 years, but as my personal findings grew I decided to open the Reptile Village, which houses 180 reptiles to share with the public.
