Peculiar Creature #7: The Self-Cloning Lizard

Who needs men? We ladies don't...unless, that is, we plan on reproducing. This isn't the case for the newly discovered self-cloning lizard, who reproduces exact copies of itself as a species. The only diversity within the species takes place in the event of a mutation, which could be positive or negative. Self-reproducing lizards are not rare- many species only come in one gender and the females can ovulate and reproduce themselves. But this is the first self-cloning lizard that is sterile, kind of like the mule. There are arguments about whether or not this hybrid lizard will be advantaged or disadvantaged in the long run. So far, it hasn't seemed to have had any issues surviving as evidenced by its abundant populations in the Vietnamese forests. But sometimes, hybrid species are disadvantaged in the long run because their gene pools aren't as strong.

The discovery of this new lizard in November of 2010 is quite unscientific: scientists discovered the strange lizard being served in local Vietnamese restaurants, where it has been a specialty for many years. The lizards can be found abundantly in the local forests, so it's a wonder that they hadn't been discovered before then. Upon noticing that all of the lizards looked identical, the scientist thought it could be a type of self-reproducing lizard. Instead, he found a new species, a self-cloning lizard. How cool is that? Sounds like a phenomenon out of a science fiction movie, or even a horror movie: "The Attack of the Self-Cloning Lizards." Yes, they can take over the world! But they look pretty harmless to me...

Harmless? Yes. Tasty? Not so much. As I vowed as a child never to eat snails in France, I will also vow to never eat lizard. Or any reptile, for that matter.