The Internet is overloaded with cute animals. Whether it’s golfing bears, hurdling bunnies, baby lion cubs, or giggling penguins, the web is the go-to source for the cuddliest Mother Nature can provide. Well, okay, maybe the bears aren’t quite huggable, but the rest of those examples just make you want to go “Awww.”
Kudos to the Memphis Zoo for bringing a bit of the anti-cuddly to the world’s attention. The city that’s also the home to Elvis’s Graceland debuted its newest citizen. That’s right. There’s a new komodo dragon in the city by the mighty Mississippi River. It’s the first one ever born at the Memphis Zoo.
The lizard, which can weigh up to 250 pounds as an adult and has poisonous saliva, hasn’t been named yet. Zookeepers know it’s mother, “Norberta”, but the baby komodo’s father is still in question. Matter of fact, there might not be a paternal parent, because females of the world’s largest lizard species are capable of fertilizing their own eggs through a process known as parthenogenesis.
Yep, there might not be a komodo baby daddy. Maybe that’s why the komodo species can be so testy.
Nature is certainly freaky when it needs to be.