Lizard gives birth without mating in 'one of rarest events in animal kingdom'

A lizard astatine a UK zoo has fixed commencement without mating, successful what has been described arsenic "one of the rarest events successful the carnal kingdom".

A pistillate casque-headed iguana produced 8 steadfast hatchlings astatine Exotic Zoo successful Telford, Shropshire, without ever being housed with a male.

The babies are receiving "round-the-clock care" and are expected to spell connected nationalist show successful the coming weeks.

The "virgin births" were owed to parthenogenesis, erstwhile an embryo develops from an unfertilised ovum - a process which the zoo said had been documented successful "only a fistful of reptile taxon worldwide".

The offspring are identical familial clones of their mother.

The zoo's director, Scott Adams, told Sky News the lawsuit showed nature's "self-conservation" and it had each travel arsenic a "shock and surprise".

He added: "It's been a chill acquisition for us. This is similar quality doing it for itself.

"This is 1 of the rarest events successful the carnal kingdom.

"When we confirmed the eggs were fertile without immoderate interaction with a male, our jaws deed the floor.

"These babies are fundamentally mini-mum clones, and seeing them thrive is incredible.

"For us, it's a almighty reminder that beingness finds a mode successful the astir unexpected circumstances.

"They person produced babies without males, truthful it's self-conservation."

Mr Adams said unit archetypal "noticed thing happening" erstwhile the lizard got bigger.

"The babies volition person round-the-clock care, but they volition yet spell disconnected to different zoos," helium added.

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Casque-headed iguanas are autochthonal to Central and South America and are facing a fig of threats successful the wild, the zoo said.

These see situation nonaccomplishment and amerciable poaching for the favored trade.

"This communicative gives america an astonishing accidental to speech with our visitors astir genetics, evolution, and the challenges that reptiles look successful the wild," said Mr Adams.