Scientists discover new lizard species at a buffet
November 12th, 2010 - 8:22 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
Hanoi, Nov 12 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Scientists are stunned that previously undocumented lizard specie has been on the menu of the people of Vietnam for many years. The specie’s discovery was as weird as the animal itself. The animal was spotted by a Vietnamese reptile scientist, Ngo Van Tri.
He found the reptiles stocked in a tank at a restaurant. The unique thing about the animal is that it is all female and it reproduces by cloning. The animal is on the menu of the patrons of the restaurant but Tri’s curiosity got a better part of him. He contacted a fellow scientist in the United States and sent some pictures of the reptiles to them to check it up.
The American scientist, Dr. Lee Grismer found the creature strange enough and quickly organized a trip to Vietnam with his son, Jesse Grismer who is also working on becoming a doctor later. When they reached the said restaurant, they found to their horror that all the lizards had been consumed out of stock by some hungry patrons. Dr. Grimser hurriedly organized some kids in the village to hunt for some of the lizards. 60 of them were captured and they were taken back to the United States.
Once in the United States, DNA sampling of the creatures confirmed that the animals were all cloned from one mother and that there were only female types of them. The small lizard, Leiolepis ngovantrii is native to only southern Vietnam.
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Tags: american scientist, becoming a doctor, curiosity, dna sampling, dr lee, fellow scientist, hanoi, jesse grismer, lee grismer, lizard, lizard species, lizards, ngo van, patrons, reptile, reptiles, son jesse, southern vietnam, specie, van tri