weird science

weirdest science stories of 2006. btw, the first one really isn't a weird science story. it was just a damn bad coincidence. everything else tho...

Chester, England, A giant Komodo dragon at Britain's largest zoo is expecting to hatch by Christmas eggs that apparently developed without male fertilization. "Essentially, what we have here is an imminent virgin birth and, because the eggs were laid back in May, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the incubating eggs could hatch around Christmastime," curator Kevin Buyley of England's Chester Zoo said. "We will be on the lookout for shepherds, wise men and an unusually bright star in the sky over Chester Zoo." Other lizard species can reproduce without a male, but this is believed to be the first time it has ever been reported in Komodo dragons, Sky News reported. The upcoming hatching follows a similar "virgin birth" at London Zoo. The Chester immaculate conception was discovered after a giant lizard named Flora laid 11 eggs that contained embryos. Paternity tests showed Flora was both the fertile eggs' mother and father, a system of reproduction known as parthenogenesis. The eggs' overall genetic makeup exactly reconstructs that of their mother, University of Liverpool researchers found.