Rare Dragon Eggs found at Postojna Cave in Slovenia

Dragon egg

For the last four months, scientists have eagerly been waiting for the rare ‘Dragons eggs’ to be hatched out. Extremely rare breeds of blind salamanders known as Olm have hatched in an aquarium at Postojna Cave. An unidentified female salamander laid the eggs in a Slovenian cave.

The first Dragon eggs hatched on 30 May were not witnessed by anyone, while the scientists saw the second egg being hatched with dragon squirming out of it. It is one of the rarest opportunity because the creature reproduces only once in five or ten years. The offspring is blind and pale in color and depends on its sense of smell to do all its activities.

At the end of January 2016, researchers found 50 to 60 eggs in the cave. Now only 22 eggs are left out of which two eggs have already hatched. The excitement of biologists around the world is understandable as Olms only lay eggs once in a decade and can probably live to be 100 years old. Although Olms are known to survive a decade without food, researchers estimate that only one in 250 Olm eggs hatches in the wild.

Commenting on this latest development, Saso Weldt who studies and looks after the egg at Postojna Cave said –

It is the end of one part of the story and the beginning of the other part of the chapter: feeding and living without the egg.

The descendent of Dragons are primarily found in the Balkan Cave rivers, and the eel-like species have been living 50 kilometers southwest of the capital Ljubljana, Postojna Cave. According to the researchers, they have been habiting in these areas for the last 100 million years.

According to a statement released by the cave, “Although the prior experience encountered by the scientists and biologists did not give them much hope that the egg will hatch, we always believed that it would happen.”

Since the time the egg was found, it has been under close watch by the cave authorities and scientists, and they are monitoring each and every behavior of the egg. It takes them 15 years to reach full growth and will grow up to 13.5 inches.

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Nitin Agarwal

Nitin started PC-Tablet because of his keen interest in space research, technology, and gadgets. He is an avid reader, technology enthusiast, and like to explore new places. His passion for knowledge keeps him running all the time.