Virgin Births: Biological Reality, or Biblical Legend?

While the biblical story of Jesus's virgin birth to Mary may some erroneous to unbelievers, the same event has happened, at least, in the animal kingdom.

Komodo Dragons

Parthenogenesis is the scientific term used to describe the self-fertilization of an egg without the aid of a sperm cell.

On Oct 2006, it was reported that Flora, a captive Komodo dragon living in the Chester Zoo in England, became the second known Komodo dragon to have fertilized her eggs herself, via parthenogenesis. Scientists at Liverpool University in northern England verified that Flora had had no male assistance, by means of genetic tests on three eggs that collapsed after being moved to an incubator. Flora, was, in layman's terms, a virgin, having never had physical contact with a male dragon.

Sungai, another Komodo dragon at London Zoo, laid a clutch of eggs in early 2006 after being separated from males for more than two years. Scientists initially assumed that she had been able to store sperm from an earlier sexual encounter with a male via a process known as superfecundation), subsequent tests also indicated that Sungai¡¯s eggs had not been fertilized by a male dragon. On 24, January 2007, zoo officials announced that several of Flora's eggs had hatched, and as in all hatchlings borne via parthenogenesis, all hatchlings were males, a further confirmation that these eggs were produced without male assistance.

W & Z Chromosomes

Unlike humans, who carry the X & Y chromosomes, dragons carry the W & Z varieties.

All female dragon eggs carry W & Z chromosomes, while male dragons carry either two Zs.

The egg from the female carries one chromosome, either a W or Z, and when parthenogenesis takes place, either the W or Z is duplicated.
This leads to eggs which are WW and ZZ. WW eggs are not viable, but ZZ eggs are, and lead to male baby Komodo dragons, hence, virgin births can only bear male offspring, which, coincidentally, lends some credibility to Mary's virgin birth, although medical records of such births have never been recorded in modern day medicine.

Reasons behind Virgin Birth Syndrome

While parthenogenesis has also been recorded in other species, such as fish and snakes, the idea of self replication may be an evolutionary throw-back to earlier ancestors.

One of the reasons why certain species may have retained this ability to self replicate could be one of isolation. If, for example, a Komodo dragon washes up on an unknown island (dragons are excellent swimmers). When this happens, the Komodo may have little or no chance to find a suitable mate to reproduce, leaving parthenogenesis as the only reproductive option.

While this method of reproduction may serve an evolutionary function, self replication is not a very good means of reproduction. Like incest, a remarkable similarity in genetic make-up of offspring and parent may result in the duplication of flawed genetic mutations, leaving further generations with weakened genes and further susceptibility to diseases.