Mom? Dad?

Last January, Flora, a female Komodo dragon at the Chester Zoo in England, became both mom and dad to seven babies.

Flora laid a clutch of leathery eggs in May 2006. The zoo's staff was shocked to find embryos, or developing young, inside three collapsed eggs. That's because Flora, raised in captivity, has never met a male dragon. Without mating, there was no way for sperm, or a male sex cell, to fertilize the eggs so they would produce offspring.

Baffled scientists studied the collapsed eggs' DNA. The genetic material showed that the eggs developed through parthenogenesis--or without fertilization.

Some lizard species can breed this way, says Kevin Buley, the zoo's reptile expert. But until now, scientists weren't sure if Komodo dragons could.