Reptile Village Conservation Zoo A first virgin birth for a Nile monitor

kiang

kiang

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
A female Nile monitor held at the reptile village zoo in Gowran ( new one to me), laid a clutch of eggs, of which 2 were fertile.
The female has never been exposed to a male monitor (obviously)
A few previous virgin births have been recorded with Komodo dragon, but this is believed to be a world first for the Nile monitor.

P.s, does anyone have any further info on this collection?

World first as Kilkenny virgin lizard reproduces - The Irish Times - Wed, Jul 01, 2009

found their site.

http://www.reptilevillage.net/Nile-monitor.html
 
"what the"
just want to join thread
 
I think this is a fishy story! why did they incubate the eggs when they knew she hadn't been with a male? I kept chickens when I was a kid and I knew there was no point letting a broody sit on eggs if she hadnt been with a rooster so I threw them out!
 
Vulpes said:
I think this is a fishy story! why did they incubate the eggs when they knew she hadn't been with a male? I kept chickens when I was a kid and I knew there was no point letting a broody sit on eggs if she hadnt been with a rooster so I threw them out!
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Why is it Fishy given that female Komodo`s at both London and Chester have laid eggs that have hatched despite the fact that they have not been with any males,after all if one species of Varanus can do it why not the rest of the Varanus species.
 
Why did they incubate the egg at all? it has never been documented before in Varanus niloticus so why not discard the eggs? If my female leopard gecko started to lay I would know they were infertile so I would discard the eggs and track down a male, start my breeding from there. I know many people that have lone female reptiles that lay eggs but never incubate them, its a waste of time and electricity! They must of had a suspicion that the egg could be fertile!
 
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Vulpes said:
They must of had a suspicion that the egg could be fertile!
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I rest my case,to me it seems very reasonable that if one species if Varanus can the rest can do it as well,and from what I can gather this is looking to be very much the case here.
 
I hope there is a scientific investigation into this as I am a little harder to convince! baring in mind that this is not a scientific institution, investigating virgin births in other reptiles.
 
Just a point in parthenogenesis aren't the resulting offspring always female? (Indian stick insects for example, males are very rare) the baby was reported to be a male!

The female is reported to be kept with her "Sister"???? They either mis-sexed the baby or mis-sexed her sister!
 
Vulpes said:
Just a point in parthenogenesis aren't the resulting offspring always female? (Indian stick insects for example, males are very rare) the baby was reported to be a male!

The female is reported to be kept with her "Sister"???? They either mis-sexed the baby or mis-sexed her sister!
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The young Komodos born by parthenogenesis at both Chester and London were all MALES not FEMALES!!
 
This is very interesting then, as I always understood females could not produce males on their own!

Parthenogenesis (from the Greek παρθένος parthenos, "virgin", + γένεσις genesis, "creation") is an asexual form of reproduction found in females where growth and development of embryos occurs without fertilization by a male. In plants, parthenogenesis means development of an embryo from an unfertilized egg cell, and is a component process of apomixis. The offspring produced by parthenogenesis are always female in species that use the XY sex-determination system.

Parthenogenesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The sex chromosome system in reptiles differs from mammals.
Females are ZW and males ZZ. In reptilian parthenogenesis the ZW chromosomes separate and then double up, theoretically producing ZZ and WW offspring. However WW is not compatible with life (in the same way that mammals cannot be YY), and all offspring produced are ZZ and therefore male.

A further complication with some reptiles is that incubation temperature influences the sex ratio but I don't think that is a factor here.
 
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